Middle Of Nowhere
by KatieBoyle
Summary: Meredith found herself motherless and plonked in a remote, rural village with grandparents she never knew existed. How was she supposed to survive in a little village with more farm animals than people? MerDer AU
1. Chapter 1

**Middle Of Nowhere**

_AN: Another story, you say? I know, a little ridiculous but I just had to write this. They say to write what you know and I know life in Ireland, even though I live in a city and this story is going to mainly take place in a rural town._

_This is very AU, very, very, very AU._

_Disclaimer: I'm just feeding my Grey's Anatomy obsession; I do not own anything (and that includes the town in which this is set (which is the town in which my grandfather was born))._

**Chapter 1 – Graiguena-whatever**

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

As Meredith Grey climbed off the plane she sighed. How had this happened? How at age sixteen had she been left parentless? Her mother had died in a car crash only two weeks earlier and her dad had left them both when she was just five. Meredith and her mom had never been that close, Ellis had always been stuck in an OR, believing that her patient's life was more important than her daughter's. She had also managed to alienate everyone in her life and because of that Meredith had just disembarked a flight to Dublin, Ireland, where she was to meet her grandparents. Meredith wasn't even aware that Ellis had living parents up until last week when her social worker had contacted them when she'd been trying to find a family member who was willing to take her.

Her grandparents, the McCabe's, lived in a rural area on the border of two counties, Carlow and Kilkenny, in a tiny town that Meredith couldn't pronounce the name of. She knew that their names were Gerald and Anne and they were in their late sixties. Ellis had never been big on families but even still, she was surprised that she'd never mentioned them, not that Meredith had ever had too many deep, personal conversations with her late mother. Meredith was even more surprised that these people she'd never met were taking her in, after all her own father had wanted nothing to do with her he'd been too wrapped up in playing happy family with his new wife to take any notice of his own child.

Meredith followed the crowd from the plane as far as passport control and lined up in the non-EU line. She waited patiently behind the family in front of her who were chatting excitedly about the sights they were going to see. Meredith was far from excited, she was moving to the middle of nowhere with people she'd never met before. She was dreading today, she was pretty sure that her life was only going to go downhill from here. It wasn't like her life in Boston had been great, she had spent her time trying to piss her mother off in any way possible: dying her hair pink, refusing to wear anything but black clothes, downing as much tequila as she possibly could and paying very little attention to her school work. But when Ellis got mad Meredith knew that she cared, maybe not enough but at least she cared in her own way. Now even her mother was gone.

The line moved slowly and soon it was her turn to hand her passport to the cop who was sitting in the booth. He checked her passport and the details of her long-term visa before he closed it and gave it back to her. He smiled at her, bringing out his dimples. "Have a good day," he told her.

"Thanks," Meredith replied politely, knowing that today was going to be far from a good day. She followed the blue wall signs to the baggage reclaim and identified the carousel that her baggage was set to arrive on and walked over to it. She watched as various suitcases came around, none of them hers. In typical fashion hers was the last to arrive. She grabbed the brown suitcase and placed it on the ground. Then Meredith ran a hand through her hair, which she had recently died back to its natural blonde, before fishing in the pocket of her sweater for her cell phone.

When she found it she scrolled through the list of contacts to the number that the social worker, Jenna, had given her for grandfather. She hit the call button and her phone began to ring. She walked in the direction of arrivals as she waited for Gerald McCabe to pick up, just as she was losing hope a voice on the other end answered.

"McCabe Accountants, Gerald speaking, how can I help you?"

"Gerald this is Meredith Grey, your granddaughter. I'm standing in arrivals in Dublin Airport."

"Oh Meredith, em can you tell me what shop your near so I can meet you there?" he asked, sounding slightly flustered.

"I'm opposite _Vodafone_," she replied, a little bit nervous.

"Okay I'm walking over to you now. Please don't hang up yet." Meredith kept the phone pressed to hear and she waited for what felt like hours but was actually only a matter of seconds.

"Meredith?" a voice asked. Meredith hung up and turned to look at the origin of the voice. The women was short, maybe five foot four inches and she had wavy dirty blonde hair, similar to Meredith's, except that it was flecked with gray. She looked about sixty-five or so and was dressed in light coloured slacks, a pale lavender blouse and woollen cardigan. Meredith was struck by just how much she looked like Ellis (or how much Ellis had looked like her) - shorter, older but definitely a relative of the late Ellis Grey.

The man beside her stood taller than her, he was, maybe, six feet. He still had most of his hair but it was white. He was quite a bit overweight but he appeared to be a jolly sort of man based on the smile which decorated his face. Meredith noted his green eyes, which were so similar to hers and to Ellis'. He wore dark slacks and a blue shirt. As she stood there and took in their appearance she felt underdressed in her jeans, top and sweater and she could only imagine how dishevelled her hair must look.

"Um, yeah I am. I assume you're Gerald and Anne."

"We are but call me Gerry, I've always found Gerald a bit too formal," the man answered her, his smile intensifying. "You look so much like her." Meredith shyly returned his smile.

They seemed nice, that didn't mean that she wanted to be there, but it would make them harder to hate. She knew however that she was going to have to make the most out of the next few years, then she could return home and use her sizable trust fund to get her through collage and make a life for herself. For now though she wanted to focus on her studies so that she could get into a good college when the time came. However she planned on avoiding the formation deeper relationships with those she met because she wasn't planning on sticking around. Of course, she'd need to find a few drinking buddies to share her love of tequila with but she didn't think that it it'd be too hard, she had moved to Ireland after all. The Irish, though conservative, were known for their ability to consume large amounts alcohol.

"Can I help you with your bags?" Anne asked her kindly. Her smile was warm and it lit up her face. Meredith shook her head in response; she didn't want to be a burden after all these two were already taking in a relative they'd never met before, she didn't need to be any more of a hindrance. She yawned, not able to help herself; the fatigue from the six hour flight was beginning to set in. When she'd left Boston it had been midnight, here in Ireland it was now twelve thirty but Meredith's body felt like it should still be sleeping as she'd only gotten two and a half hours sleep on the plane. To top it all off it was only half six in the morning in Boston, on any regular day she'd still be curled up in bed but it wasn't any regular day.

"You must be exhausted," Anne remarked, "Let's get you to the car and you can relax a bit." Gerry took the handle of her suitcase despite her protestations and began to wheel it towards the door. His little way of showing he already cared about her brought a smile to Meredith's face. They definitely seemed nice, which could be a good change Meredith realised, having someone, anyone, who cared about her could be nice. However, Meredith was sure that once the couple got to know her they'd be running for the hills, after all who could care about a girl with so many issues that she practically was an issue herself? She'd be any shrink's nightmare 'cause with Meredith Grey the issues just kept coming.

She followed the couple towards the Dublin Airport short-term parking car park. They stopped briefly at a shop called _Spar_, where Anne bought Meredith a drink, a sandwich, a chocolate bar, an apple and a packet of crisps lest she get hungry during the two hour car journey and at machine where Gerry paid his parking fee.

Then they took the elevator to the second floor where the car was parked. They walked past a number of different cars before they reached Jerry's silver _Mercedes_. Meredith briefly admired they car, ignoring the fact that it needed a car wash, when she'd been told that her grandparents lived in the middle of nowhere she'd thought that they were going to be hillbillies but instead they owned an expensive car, wore nice clothes and Gerald, Gerry she mentally corrected herself, was an accountant.

She barely noticed Gerry loading the suitcase into the trunk or Anne helping her to take her backpack off her back. She got into the back of the car without really thinking, her mind was on autopilot, this all seemed so surreal. Meredith didn't know if it was the exhaustion taking hold as her adrenaline dissipated or the enormity of the situation that made it feel so dreamlike to her now. Almost like if she tried hard enough to wake up she'd be back in Boston with a message from Ellis saying she'd been pulled into an emergency surgery and wouldn't be home that night. She took a deep breath and buckled her seatbelt. Meredith was asleep before Gerry even pulled out of the parking lot.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

When Meredith woke she was groggy, she could hear the quiet hum of the engine and the noise of a car radio. It took her a few seconds to remember what was happening and when she did she took in a sharp breath, it all felt so real now. It really had all happened. She brought her hand to her mouth to wipe away some dried drool that had collected there during her nap. Then Meredith looked out the window. The road they were on was small and the surface was poor, to her left was a brown, rectangular sign with a white border it read 'Graiguenamanagh – Heritage Town. Welcome to Kilkenny.' 'Kilkenny' was written in a fancy script and was double the size of the rest of the writing but this was her new home for the next few years.

It took them a little under two minutes to drive through the town, the majority of important buildings were located on the central street, which was, oh so creatively, named Main Street. They had two drug stores, a supermarket, a stationary/ clothes/ book/ uniform/ toy store, a sportswear store, a butcher, a florist, a bookstore, a small news agents, a bank, a church and about six or seven bars or as they were called in Ireland 'pubs'. It was no wonder, Meredith thought, that the Irish population were stereotyped as alcoholics when a town with about 1,300 inhabitants had nearly more bars than shops. It was a wonder that they were all kept in business, she thought.

They reached the edge of town and Gerry continued to drive, Meredith had to stop herself from groaning aloud when she realised they didn't even live in the town. About two minutes later they came to a set of black mettle gates which Gerry opened with a small grey remote control that he had sitting on the dashboard. Then he drove down a ridiculously steep hill bordered by fields on either side. The narrow, private road was separated from the fields by a fence constructed from what looked like chopped up telegraph poles and barbed wire. The poles were different shades of brown and uneven heights, some of them were flat at the top and some of them were pointed. The make-shift fence was a funny sight. Meredith could only assume that the fence hadn't been commissioned by Anne or Gerry as an uneven-telegraph-pole-fence didn't really seem their style. They seemed too refined for that. She took note of the barbed wire though; she'd want to be careful of that if she ever came home drunk.

At the end of the bumpy, steep and slightly dangerous, quarter mile long road the car came to a stop and Gerry got out and opened the wooden gates. Meredith took in the house from her place in the back of the car. It was a stunning building, constructed completely of stone. The stone cottage screamed traditional rural residence and Meredith was surprised but she loved it. It was so homey, a far cry from her mother's house in Boston. This house had character. Gerry got back in and pulled onto the gravel where he parked beside a black jeep. He looked back to Meredith and smiled.

"Welcome home Meredith. We know it's going to be a hard change for you but we want you to feel at home here so if we can make it easier for you in anyway let us know, we'd be happy to help in any way we can." Meredith just nodded as the enormity of what she was about to do hit her like a ton of bricks. She was about to take her first steps into her new life and she wasn't quite sure how exactly she felt about that. However she opened her door and set her feet on the ground, she took a breath of air - the air was so fresh here, se noted.

She paused beside the car for a second and took in the sights, sounds and smells around her. She could hear rush of water and she realised that it must be the river which ran through the area. She smelt the freshly cut grass and the flowers. She saw the green which seemed to swallow the whole place whole, she could also see the sheep in the field bordering the garden. It surprised Meredith but she kind of liked it and at the same time she kind of hated it. She loved the peacefulness but it creeped her out. She loved the sound of the water but it made her want to pee. She loved the beauty of nature but she missed the stark building of the city. Meredith knew that her love-hate relationship with Graiguena-whatever was probably going to be on going but it wasn't like she had ever really loved Boston.

Meredith could see that Anne was watching her take everything in and she felt the need to say something. "I kind of love it and I kind of hate it," Meredith said.

"I understand what you mean," Anne said, her expression concerned and understanding, "Gerry and I lived in London for years, Gerry's actually English but when I came back here after I had Ellis, I felt the same way. It's eerily quiet but you get used to it. It's a big change but hopefully you'll find Graiguenamanagh somewhat palatable after a while." 'Greygnamana' so that was how you said it, Meredith thought. It was comforting to know that she wasn't the first to feel this way about living in the middle of nowhere. Change is good, she told herself. Meredith went to the open trunk and grabbed her backpack and Anne walked beside her to the front door. She pushed the heavy wooden door open. This is it, Meredith thought. She stepped over the threshold into a white kitchen. Practically everything was white or cream it was bright and airy and Meredith loved the feel of it. She looked around once again taking it all in. Maybe, she would survive until the end of high school here, or whatever it was that the Irish called it.

All the cupboards in the kitchen were cream, the counter top was marble and the electric hob was black as was the oven. The refrigerator, as Anne had told her, was hidden behind a big cream door that just made it look like a cupboard. The kitchen table was cream as were the chairs but each of them had a green cushion. The table, which was an odd oval shape, had table cloth on it which was a light brown with orange and red flowers. It was a little quirky but it worked.

Anne led her into the next room the living room. The room was a pale yellow and had a stove. The blinds on the windows were cream with beautiful pink flowers and green sycamore leaves, the couches were brown and the stove was framed by a cream, marble fireplace. The tiles were the same as the kitchen she noticed, about half a foot squared and a reddish-brown colour. The stairs were in this room and they were painted white and as a result they almost blended into the wall. There were also three doors off the living room one to the front garden, one to the hall and one to the study.

"Your room is upstairs," Anne told Meredith, making a beeline for the white stairs. She followed her, climbing the staircase a few steps behind. At the top of the stairs there was a hallway and the walls were decorated by family photos, she glanced at them briefly, Meredith felt a little bit of an outsider looking at them. Meredith noticed Anne was watching her, noting her every reaction, which was fair, she supposed. She didn't know Meredith or how she'd react to this new place, this new life.

She looked into her gray eyes trying to communicate that she was okay that she was ready to move on. Anne was sharp and picked up message conveyed by Meredith's pointed stare. She took a few steps further along the hallway and opened the second door on the right hand side. She motioned to Meredith with her head to follow her.

Meredith stepped into the room and looked around. The room was big, a good bit bigger than her room at home. The walls were a pale lavender and although Meredith had never really been a fan of 'girly' coloured she decided it wasn't that bad, it could've been pink. She had a big cream closet which lined half of the east wall; the remaining half was occupied by a double bed with a white wrought iron frame and a white duvet cover. On the north wall there were two smallish windows with window ledges so deep you could sit in them. The curtains were silk with purple and green, vertical stripes. In between the windows was a huge, cream chest of drawers. The west wall was bear apart from a cream, wooden desk and a matching chair. The south wall housed the cream door and to its right hung a black and white print of trees in a forest. In a smaller room it would've been crowded but in this room it was far from it in fact it almost felt a little bare.

Her suitcase sat at the end of her bed and she assumed that Gerry must have left it there. Meredith let out a breath of air that she didn't realise she'd been holding. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad, she had her own space to hide away in. She walked over to the bed, left her backpack on the ground and sat down on the edge of the bed. Meredith looked over to Anne, who was standing to the right of the door, and tears pooled in Meredith's eyes, "thanks," she choked out, truly grateful. These people were giving her a place to stay; she didn't understand quite why they were willing to take her in when all her life no one had wanted her, not her father, not her mother, not anyone. For some reason these people her mother had all but forgotten about had taken her in and given her a home. They had decorated a room just for her, that much was clear from the lingering smell of paint and detergent.

"Our pleasure," Anne told Meredith honestly. "I forgot to mention we have Wi-Fi, which my granddaughter Lexie has informed me is a very important thing to have, also we got you an Irish phone as we didn't know if yours would work over here. It's an iPhone, Lexie picked it out, and we'll cover the monthly bills so feel free to ring your friends back home."

Anne and Gerry were just too nice it would make it practically impossible to hate them so far today the two of them had showed Meredith more affection and understanding than Ellis had in the last year. They hadn't insulted her, screamed at her or called her 'ordinary'. They were showing her so much kindness and compassion and Meredith was freaking out she didn't know how to respond to these emotions. It kind of scared her but it kind of thrilled her at the same time. The emotions she was feeling made her want to cry, she could put it down to PMS but Meredith knew it was something more.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

_Thoughts?_

_Questions?_

_Suggestions?_

_Death Threats?_

_All are welcome…_

_Thanks for your time,_

_Katie_

_**Fun fact: Graiguenamanagh is the anglicised version of the Irish place name 'Gráig na Manach', which translates directly as 'Valley of the Monks'. It was named this because it used to be an important monastic settlement.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Middle Of Nowhere**_

_AN: Hi again. Greetings from Ireland, I come in peace with my next update._

_Sorry For the wait I was down the country with no internet but my phone._

_I was really glad to see the enthusiastic response to the first chapter. I was surprised to see so many people braved my horrific summary and read the chapter. All of the reviews were positive but I wouldn't mind criticism – I'm aware have lots to learn._

_I have a few pictures of the Graiguenamanagh area on my profile if you'd like to take a look._

_I'm also in the market for a beta, anyone up for the challenge?_

**Juni**_ – in response to your question, no Lexie is not Meredith's half sister, she is her cousin. The whole half-sister thing just didn't work for this story but I wanted to keep her character._

_This one's slightly longer…_

_Disclaimer: No change since last time, I still don't own Grey's Anatomy…_

**Chapter 2 – The Urge to Run**

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Meredith set about unpacking her stuff still reeling from the earlier exchange with her grandmother. She opened the suitcase and tried to group the clothes – t-shirts in one pile jeans in another that kind of thing. She still owned a lot of black clothing from her 'rebel' stage during her first semester of freshman year but these days she had some brighter stuff too. She had lots of greens, browns, blues and reds; she even had a lavender t-shirt, which she rarely wore. She put all of her t-shirts and long-sleeved shirts into the top drawer of the dresser. She placed her underwear and socks into the next drawer, her jeans and pants went in the drawer below, pyjamas in the second last one and her hoodies and sweaters into the bottom drawer. She hung a few things into her cupboard, things that she didn't want creased, and then she took a deep breath. It was so weird, almost as if she was unpacking her life but she carried on.

Meredith placed her array of books, the ones she couldn't leave behind, on top of the chest of drawers along with a few CDs, her iPod, her _Friends_ box set and her toiletries. Next she moved on to shoes positioning them in neat rows on the floor inside her wardrobe. She stood back to admire her handiwork when it struck her that she owned five different pairs of _Converse_, which, even she could admit, was a little excessive. But it wasn't like she could part with any of them; she loved her red, her black and her navy high-tops almost as much as her white and her khaki low-tops. _Converse_ were just so versatile. She could wear them with anything.

Next, she fished the three photo frames she had thrown at the end of her case out and wrestled the bubble-wrap from them before setting them down in pride of place on her desk. The first was of her mother holding a newborn Meredith in her arms. The second showed Meredith with Sadie her closest friend and primary drinking partner in the States. The final one showed a young Meredith in an awful, yellow, plaid coat, sitting on a sled with Thatcher, her deadbeat father, Meredith didn't even know why she'd brought it, she just had. She could still remember when Thatcher used to bring her to the middle school and pull her around on the sled when it snowed. It was the only fond memory she had of him. He'd left when she was five with a promise he'd be back soon. Meredith had spent most of her early childhood in Boston waiting for him to come and get her, he never did.

Meredith had always thought herself unfortunate with the parents she'd got, one would think that she deserved at least one good parent but instead she'd got overbearing, pushy Ellis and Thatcher, the man who hadn't stuck around long enough to make an impression. As she'd gotten older Meredith had wondered why Thatcher had never fought for her or tried to make contact. He had to have known that Ellis was too absorbed in furthering her career to raise a child properly. She had finally come to the conclusion that he was too busy playing 'happy families' with someone else to care about the daughter that he'd left behind.

It was then that Meredith noticed the paper _O2_ bag that was sitting beside the front left leg of the chair. She decided to pick it up and inside she found a small black box with 'iPhone 4' written on it in silver and the picture of an iPhone as well as a small blue pouch containing a micro-sim card.

Meredith opened the box and took the phone from its packaging. It was a nice phone, far nicer than her 'sensible' brick which Ellis had chosen for her. She inserted the sim card in accordance with the accompanying instruction book and then lay it down on the desk. Once again she was touched by the thoughtfulness of these strangers and Meredith realised that maybe this was some sort of payback for what she endured.

She mightn't care to tell anyone but she missed her mother. Meredith had loved Ellis even if her feelings hadn't really been requited. She knew her mother would've considered it weak to love someone, Ellis had always told Meredith that love didn't exist. She had said that love was just a crutch people used to give meaning to their lives, to make it from one day to the next. Meredith didn't want to be weak, she didn't want to be pitied, she didn't want to be the poor girl who lost her mother. She wanted to be strong. Meredith wanted, no needed, to be extraordinary. She needed to succeed, to carry on Ellis' legacy. So Meredith knew she needed to stay somewhat detached from the people here so that when the time came to return home, she'd be able to. It would be tough but it had to be done.

Meredith grabbed her laptop from where it rested at the bottom of her suitcase, it was the only thing left for her to unpack. She had gotten it with the money her mother had left on the table on her fifteenth birthday. This laptop was one of Meredith's most prized possessions. She used it a lot for school (when she chose to do school work), for TV (Ellis hadn't believed in paying for cable), for Facebook, for Skype, for iTunes, for YouTube. The laptop itself was a red Samsung, the screen was massive, perfect for watching Meredith's illegal downloads. At this stage though, its battery life was horrific due to overuse.

She plugged it into the wall and switched it on. After a minute it was ready to go, she clicked the Wi-Fi connections icon on the tool bar and connected to the McCabe's network, carefully keying in the alpha-numeric code. Then she connected her new phone using the white USB lead, it claimed to be installing the software for about thirty seconds before iTunes popped up. Meredith went through the effort of registering the phone online before syncing it with her music. She'd often been envious of her classmates who'd paraded around her school with their iPhone in tow as they'd had constant access to Facebook and email.

Now Meredith had done pretty much everything she could in order to avoid venturing downstairs where she'd see Gerry and Anne. She stood beside her desk for a few more minutes debating whether hiding out in her room or biting the bullet and going downstairs was a better option. Although, Meredith had always been particularly talented at avoiding anything that made her in any way uncomfortable she decided that putting off going downstairs was stupid, after all she lived here now. She was going to have to leave her room to eat and stuff.

She left her laptop on, allowing the phone to charge and walked to the door. Meredith ignored the photos hanging in the hall, figuring she'd have plenty of time to check them out later and descended the staircase. She was terribly tempted to turn around and return to her room but she kept on going, knowing that running away wasn't going to buy her much time.

Anne was sitting on one of the couches in the living room reading. She turned her head towards the stairs when she heard Meredith's heavy footsteps. Anne smiled at her and Meredith gave her a weak smile in return, before once again thanking her for the gift of the phone. Meredith cast her eye to the clock that sat on the mantel piece, it was only three thirty. "Is everything okay with the room?" she asked worriedly. "We didn't know what colour to paint it. You can change it if you'd like."

"It's fine," Meredith reassured her, "Purple wouldn't be my first choice but it's much better than pink or yellow." Anne smiled but she looked a little uncomfortable. She fidgeted with her book. Meredith figured it was because she was unsure of how to proceed; her social worker had been the same, not wanting to startle her. She understood the reaction, Meredith was new, unknown and although Anne didn't know yet, laden with more issues than you could count on both hands.

Anne took a deep breath before speaking. "Meredith, I hope you don't mind but I invited a few of your cousins around for dinner this evening, I thought that it'd be good for you to meet them. Lexie and Addison are in your year in school. Molly's two years younger than you and Archer is a year and a half older." Meredith's smile vanished, she felt such an outsider in this small, cosy family. She'd never had any family in Boston, besides her mother, this was all so new to her. It was practically an overload. It all seemed rushed.

Meredith realised that Anne looked worried by her reaction, she smiled apologetically before speaking, "I'm sorry. It's just that this is new to me and it feels like my whole world has changed and I'm moving in slow motion and everything is racing around me. It's not that I don't want to meet the rest of the family, because I do, eventually and I'm sure their lovely people it just that… and I'm rambling now so I'm going to shut up." Anne let out a small chuckle.

"I've been known to ramble myself; it used to drive your mother crazy. I understand that you feel a little lost and I wouldn't have agreed to this but Lexie and Molly were desperate to meet their long-lost cousin and they can be insufferably enthusiastic at times so I agreed. Also Addison's and Archer's mother, Marie, was busy. So it worked for her if Addie and Archie could be here for a few hours, she's paranoid that something will happen to them if she leaves them at home during the evening.

"However, I don't want to rush you, dinner can easily be postponed if you want."

Meredith thought about it for a few seconds, while normally she would've jumped at the chance of a postponement, she was very conscious of what both Anne and Gerry were doing for her. She was happy to give back in any way that she could, even if giving back made her very uncomfortable. "No it's fine. I'll have to meet them eventually, might as well get it over with," Meredith told her, while running her hand nervously through her hair. Her eyes made it very clear that she didn't want this.

"I'm not forcing you, this is your decision." Meredith was grateful to Anne for giving her an out but avoiding this issue wasn't going to make it go away.

"No, I will have to meet them eventually; I might as well do it now while I can play the jet lag card to escape."

"That's the spirit," she chuckled. "You can help me with the dinner if you'd like." Meredith winced at the thought at her last attempt at cooking; she had successfully given herself salmonella trying to cook French toast.

"That's not such a good idea, I'm a culinary retard."

"Your mother was the same at your age but a few lessons and she was grand. I'm fairly sure I can teach you how not to butcher food, no one is completely inept when it comes to cooking."

"I think you've met your match," Meredith told her, completely serious.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

"So what you need to do is fry the meat until it's all brown. I've already got the oil in the pan so just add the mince," Anne told her kindly. Meredith followed her instructions carefully, opening the plastic bag which held the meat and dumping it into the pan. She heard a sizzling noise when the lamb mince made contact with the hot pan but she ignored it and picked up the spatula. She stood there pushing the minced meat around the pan trying to ensure that it was all evenly cooked. Beside her pan, was a pot of potatoes that were being boiled and another pot that contained carrots. Both pots were bubbling away quietly, cooking nicely.

Anne was at another section of the counter making up the sauce for the shepherd's pie. When Meredith had successfully cooked all of the meat, Anne instructed her to drain any remaining oil and any fat that had come off the meat from the pan. Then Anne added the sauce and the finely chopped, now cooked, carrots. She told Meredith to switch the hob up to full heat until the sauce came to the boil. Meredith did so, all the while slightly afraid that she'd ruin the dinner and all of her cousins would hate her.

"Relax, Anne told her, "You're doing a good job. Take a deep breath, I promise you won't poison anyone. Most people add onion to their shepherd's pie but Archer is allergic so I never do."

After a couple of minutes the sauce began to bubble and she reached towards the knob to turn the heat off but Anne shook her head. "It's not quite boiling yet, just give it a minute." Meredith nodded and watched the pan, sure enough after about a minute the sauce was bubbling furiously and Meredith understood. Anne gave her the go ahead to take the pan off the heat and switched that ring of the hob off.

Next Anne transferred the meat into two large Pyrex dishes and put it in the preheated oven to finish cooking. "I'll mash the potatoes and stick them on top to go a little crispy in about forty-five minutes. But other than that were done I'll clean up the pots, why don't you go and lie down for a half an hour before the mad grandchildren descend upon us."

"Thanks for putting up with my very nervous, slow cooking, I'm sure you wanted to grab the spatula off me and tell me I was doing it wrong."

"Not at all," Anne assured her, her kind smile once again plastered on her face, "I couldn't have done it better myself. Although, you need to stop doubting yourself, you did a great job but if you don't stop worrying you'll give yourself an aneurysm." Meredith felt a warm feeling build up inside her and heat rush to her cheeks. Anne had just complimented her; Ellis had never given Meredith a compliment. She liked the feeling; however, she wasn't such a fan of the burning cheeks.

"Um… thanks," Meredith said in reply before heading for the door and retreating to the sanctuary of her room, resolving to clean herself up before the family arrived.

She grabbed her favourite green, long-sleeved top, a pair of skinny jeans and a pair of navy low tops. She brushed her messy hair and tried, with little success, to calm it into neat waves. Then she applied a light layer of foundation, some blusher, eyeliner, and a little lip gloss. Meredith had idea why but she felt a certain desperation to impress her relatives whom she'd never met. She told herself that it was because she knew she was going to have to co-exist with them for the next three years but she knew it was something deeper. Meredith even guessed it might be to do with the longing she'd had as a child to have a 'proper family'. She reminded herself that most proper families had a living mother and a participating father.

She sat on the bed for five minutes, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. Meredith had ten minutes until they arrived. She remembered that she needed to stay detached; an extraordinary surgeon couldn't be tied down by anything. She would be polite but she couldn't grow to like or even love, if love existed, these people. This was just a chapter of her life, a chapter she would leave behind one day soon when she returned to her home country to become extraordinary as her mother had always urged her to be.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Meredith heard a car pull into the drive; she made a pointed effort not to begin hyper ventilating. Instead, she took deep breaths and tried to calm her racing heart. Meredith rose from the bed and walked out into the hall to look out the window. A black sports car was parked in the driveway and out of the car climbed a brunette boy and a red headed girl.

For the third time today, Meredith forced herself to lean into the fear and not run, she could save her running for later, she reminded herself. She descended the staircase quietly. She hoped that her cousins weren't overly peppy; she couldn't stand people who were happy for no reason and had no backbone. They annoyed her. She didn't understand why they pretended that life was perfect, it wasn't. She was living proof of how imperfect life could be.

At this stage, she had reached the kitchen door; she ignored the voice in her head telling her to run. She opened the door and walked in. Now she got a proper look at the two guests. The red head was tall and stunning. Her hair was quite long and fell several inches below her shoulders. She was wearing high waisted, tight fitting, black trousers, and indigo flowing top which was tucked into the waist of her trousers and simple black pumps.

The boy, well man, had well coifed brown hair. He wore a tight fitting red t-shirt and dark jeans. He seemed underdressed in comparison to the red head who she assumed was his sister. They both shared the same chin, eye colour and good looks.

"So you must be the infamous Meredith," said the red head approaching her, "I'm Addison Montgomery, nice to meet you." Addison offered her a hand to shake and Meredith took it and smiled at the red head.

"I'm Archer, Addie's brother but call me Archie 'cause only my parents call me Archer." Meredith promptly shook his hand. She felt as if she should say something, she was sure that she still had a voice somewhere.

"Well I'm Meredith Grey but I guess you knew that…" Addison chuckled at that. She had a feeling she was going to like Meredith.

Then a silence overtook the kitchen and awkwardness descended, Archer broke the silence "So what do you think of Graig?"

"Um… It's okay. Well it's not that I don't like it; it's just that I've only arrived. I haven't really seen much or met many people so I can't give a well-rounded opinion. I'm rambling and now you probably think I'm crazy but I'm not." The butterflies continued their assault of her stomach.

"Wow did you even breath as you word vomited there?" Addison asked, jokingly, with a smile lighting up her face and exposing her dimples.

"I'm not really sure," Meredith responded sarcastically.

"I like her," Addison said aloud. Meredith frowned, did Addison not realise that she was standing right there? Just because she was new to this family didn't mean she'd let Addison treat her like complete crap. She decided she was going to say something, after all her mother had raised her to be a strong woman, being walked all over was not in her job description and neither was being treated like dirt on someone's shoe.

"I don't know if you've noticed but I can hear what you saying? I have got two working ears." Addison laughed once again. Meredith didn't understand why Addison was laughing, was the girl crazy or something? What was it with Ireland?

"Sorry," she said. "I just didn't know if you were going to be part of Lexie's gang of overly enthusiastic, peppy headaches, I'm glad to find out that your normal. It'll be nice to have a normal person in the family."

"Hey Addie, am I not normal?" Archer asked her, a wounded expression on his face. He brought his hand to his chest as if Addison had shoved a foreign body into his heart.

"You, Archie are far from normal. You are a womanising, egotistical ass and I would have nothing to do with you if you weren't my brother. However, unfortunately genes connect us and I have to put up with you, at least until you go to college. For now though you can make life easy for me and shut up." Meredith chuckled; maybe Addison wasn't a bitch after all, maybe she just had a strong personality.

She had a feeling that perhaps she could grow to like Addison too. Addison had already made it clear that she didn't like overly peppy, annoying idiots. Also, she had a backbone. She didn't take shit from anyone, especially not her seemingly egotistical, pompous brother.

Yeah, she was the kind of person that Meredith liked. Addison was strong willed, slightly arrogant and seemed to share Meredith's feelings about overly happy people who grew up with smiley face posters on their walls. She had three questions though would Addison stick around once she discovered Meredith's many issues? Did she share Meredith's penchant for drowning her sorrows in alcohol? And most importantly, was she a hugger? Meredith didn't do hugs.

"You know what Addison? I think I like you too." Both girls exchanged a conspiratorial smile and Archer groaned. He could tell that the girls were probably going to become close; after all they'd had an almost instant connection.

"Great. Another Addison, just what this family needed." Addison stuck out her tongue at Archer, while Meredith grinned. Life in Ireland was looking up, she'd met a like-minded soul, maybe this wouldn't be hell on earth after all.

Anne chose that moment to return to the kitchen. "I hope you've been treating her well and keeping bickering to a minimum."

"Yeh, Addie has just been giving Meredith a run down on why I'm not normal." Anne shook her head and checked on the dinner which was sitting in the oven as they heard a car engine roar outside.

"That's Lexie and Molly and your grandfather should be back soon, I sent him across town to get a carton of milk. Go and sit down in the living room and take some time to get to know each other."

Addison grabbed Meredith's arm and dragged her into the neighbouring room, eager to find out if her new cousin was indeed who she seemed to be. She was excited at the prospect of having a new addition to the ranks; it thing worked out the girls would, finally, outnumber the boys. Even more exciting was the fiery nature that Meredith had displayed earlier, perhaps she'd even be able to make Mark Sloan shut up. That's wishful thinking, Addison reminded herself, it would take a miracle to get Mark Sloan to shut up.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

_AN: Any thoughts?_

_Questions?_

_Shout outs?_

_Complaints?_

_Well wishes?_

_Urges to pelt me with rotten fruit?_

_Like last time, pretty much anything is welcome. Could you warn me about flying fruit though, so I can wear my worst clothes?_

_P.S. – I'm off to Spain on Thursday so I don't know when the next update will be… I may or may not have Wi-Fi in my hotel._

_Thanks for your time,_

_Katie_

_**Fun Fact: Graiguenamanagh is called Graig by the locals. After all Graiguenamanagh is a bit of a mouthful and its difficult to say.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Middle Of Nowhere**_

_AN: Thanks to all readers, reviewers, alerters, favouriters, you guys are fab._

_Sorry I haven't replied to reviews I've had no time at all._

_Sorry for the lack of updates holidays was followed by school and my teachers are being ruthless. _

_Also hockey, singing, choir and aerobics started back so I'm more than a little busy._

_I'm hoping to update every Sunday if possible._

_Disclaimer: I still have not received the rights to Grey's Anatomy in the mail so I can only assume it isn't mine._

_**This one is shorter than usual but I figured you'd prefer one shorter update now and full length one next Sunday rather than no update now and a full length one next Sunday.**_

**Chapter 3 – Of Cynics and Insanely Peppy Idiots**

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Meredith sat down on the couch beside Addison; she really didn't know where to begin. She had a feeling that they had similar personalities and they would probably get on well but she didn't know how to confirm that. She didn't need to worry though as Addison, who had the same idea, launched her plan into action.

"So drink of choice?"

"You do realise our grandparents are next door right? But mine is tequila."

"I wouldn't worry Meredith it's not like they don't know that we drink. I'm more of a vodka person myself."

"I'm a beer fan," Archer said grinning, "You can't beat a good beer."

"Drunken stories?" Addison asked curiously. Meredith frowned, trying to think of an appropriate story to tell Addison, nothing too embarrassing but nothing too boring either.

"Well there was that time that I was convinced I was Harry Potter. I found a stick and ran around some guy's garden 'casting spells' on innocent party goers. My friend Sadie filmed it and played it back, it wasn't too pleasant to watch. What about you?"

Once Addison had silenced her laughter at Meredith story she began, "Hmmmm… which is better, the night when I stole a hotdog or the time when I threw up all over Archie? I quite like both stories."

"Well if it helps you choose, I didn't enjoy the night when you threw up over me Addison," Archie said harshly but Addison merely grinned wider in response. Meredith could hear voices from the kitchen and could only assume that these belonged the latest arrivals.

"A word of warning," Addison said to Meredith, "Lexie and Molly are both those overly happy, peppy, sickening types. If you're anything like me there upbeat attitude will make you want to claw your eyes out." Meredith nodded, mentally preparing herself for her two cousins who were just about to arrive through the door. She had made it this far in life, surely she could survive two overly chirpy girls for an evening, she told herself but she wasn't completely sure if she believed it.

Meredith's eyes snapped to the door handle which was being pushed downwards, the door was opened and in walked two girls. The brunette was the tallest and looked about fifteen a smile was plaster across her pretty face she came to a stop opposite Meredith; she was followed by a blonde who was about five inches shorter than her who looked maybe twelve or thirteen. The young blonde was also sporting a painful wide smile. Great, Meredith thought, Addison was right; they both looked like the insanely positive and upbeat types, if there smile and penchant for brightly coloured clothing was anything to go by.

"Oh my God you must be Meredith; it's so good to finally meet you. You must be really nervous coming to a completely new but done worry that's okay because you have us, right Molly? We'll be able to help you out and you'll be in my year at school and I bet we'll be really good friends and everything will be amazing." Meredith fought the urge to laugh; the brunette was possibly a worse rambler than she was. It seemed like rambling was hereditary. She just stared at the brunette standing about six foot away from her with a smirk on her face. "Oh God I rambled again didn't I? I hope I didn't scare you or anything-"

"Shut up Lexie," Archer said, "we really don't need to hear you go off on another tangent at break neck speed. Yes her name is Meredith and yes she will be in your year but how about you try shutting up and not ramming your enthusiasm and excitement down her throat?"

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you or anything… I just ramble when I'm nervous or excited and you see-"

"Lexie!" both Addison and Archer exclaimed in unison and Lexie blushed.

"Sorry," she muttered walking over to a free armchair to the left of Addison. Her sister who introduced herself as Molly then took a seat next to Archer. Lexie and Molly then proceeded to brief Meredith on every detail of their lives.

"Let the girl breathe," Addison said glaring at her cousins. She and Lexie had never gotten on well. From an early age their personalities had clashed, they each had different idea of how to go about living their lives. They both had different outlooks and values. The two had both had to learn to just avoid each other (which was either said than done, what with being cousins, living in the same tiny town and being in the same class) because they were both stubborn and unwilling to give an inch.

Lexie was that girl who had the picture perfect family; loving father, loving mother, loving sister. Addison, on the other hand, had grown up with a father who was rarely at home, spending most of his time away on business. Family life for the Montgomery's was always a little disjointed which was what happened if you had a father who spent most of his time off in foreign countries. These days the most contact Addison had with him was his fortnightly five minute phone call and the weekly cheque that arrived in the post.

Addison was close to her mother but she was only too well aware that her mother only stayed married to her father out of obligation to her children, for this Addison felt insanely guilty. There was nothing she could do; it wasn't like she was going to just ask her mum why she just wouldn't leave her father. So Addison had grown up with a father who thought love equalled money and a mother in an unhappy marriage, who tried to play both the role of mother and father despite the fact she was only human.

For this reason Addison didn't associate with overly optimistic idiots who were convinced that nothing bad existed in the world because their parents had, and continued, to shelter them from life. Addison just couldn't be around them, she knew that most of the time life sucked. She didn't believe in clouds with silver linings. She knew life wasn't perfect, she embraced it even, despite this fact she still couldn't stand people who couldn't see things for what they were. Addison was well aware that she felt that way because she was jealous, jealous that her father wasn't around to protect her from life's evils or to interrogate and threaten her boyfriend or just sit and talk to her. When she felt like that she just picked herself up and dusted herself off because there was no use wallowing in self pity. Life was tough but if you grabbed a hold of it and tried to make it through each day, she knew that you could find beauty in amongst its imperfections. More important to Addison was, the belief that she created her own happiness.

In the time it took for introductions to be made and Lexie to sufficiently terrify Meredith with over-excited nature dinner was ready. Anne called the five of them into the kitchen and they sat around the oval table. Meredith took a seat between Addison and Gerry, feeling somewhat safe there as she was on the opposite side of the table from Lexie and Molly. She found them to be draining, it was as if they sucked her energy away from her and used it to fuel their enthusiasm. Of course, if she'd been thinking clearly she would've just attributed her tiredness to jet lag and lack of sleep.

Dinner was, to Meredith surprise, actually edible, it was in fact even more than just edible, it was delicious. The conversation was quite entertaining too, both Gerry and Archer it seemed had similar senses of humour and they were utterly hilarious together, although Meredith couldn't be certain that she wasn't finding everything funny because she was so tired. She'd now been awake for forty hours straight (if you didn't count her two hour nap in the car), she'd been unable to sleep the night before her journey and her lack of sleep was catching up on her. She struggled to stay awake at the dinner table and suddenly she found herself in the living room sitting next to Addison laughing hysterically for no particular reason.

And somehow she ended up in bed in her new room with no idea how she'd arrived there. She checked the time on her cell it was twelve thirty pm. Meredith was shocked, she had no idea how long she'd slept but it must have been ages. She checked the time again just too be sure, it was still the same. She noted the little blue rectangle in the centre of her screen alerting her that she had a new text from Addison. She swiped the arrow at the bottom, left hand side of the screen over to the right using her thumb. Then she keyed in her code, 0995 and was greeted with a menu screen. In the top left the little green icon with a speech bubble had a red and white bubble saying 1 in the corner. Meredith hit it and it opened Addison's message.

_You were utterly hilarious last night, you were so tired that you had no filter at all, I'm glad we were in your room when we told me those stories. Anne and Gerry wouldn't have been impressed. I'm going out with some friends later and you promised you'd come. Just ask Gerry to drop you to mine at 2ish. Don't even think about not coming Mer… I WILL hunt you down if you don't show. Xxx_

Meredith frowned, shit, what had she done last night; apparently lack of sleep, like tequila, got her talking. She was glad that Gerry and Anne hadn't heard what she'd had to say. She was tempted to call Addison and tell her that she was sick or something but she was intrigued by her. They'd definitely had a connection yesterday and Addison drank, who was she to turn down a drinking buddy? Plus she might get to drink today depending on what Addison and her friends were planning.

She drew back the covers and climbed out of bed. She was going to have to ask her grandparents if she could go, she didn't see any reason why they wouldn't let her, they knew and trusted Addison. Meredith grabbed a hoodie from her drawer and headed for the door. She plodded down the stairs, pulling the hoodie on over the pyjamas.

She passed Gerry in the sitting room he was reading a paper, dressed in a suit. He greeted her warmly as she passed, teasing her about how he couldn't say good morning as it was already early afternoon, Meredith chuckled in response. She liked Gerry, she liked him a lot, he was good natured and sweet.

Anne was busy in the kitchen when Meredith walked in, she was elbow deep in flour busy making some kind of pastry. She too gave Meredith a kind greeting and dropped what she was doing insisting on cooking Meredith bacon and eggs for breakfast, ignoring Meredith's protestations.

"Anne last night Addison invited me to spend the day with her and some of her friends would that be okay?" Meredith asked politely as Anne was slidding her eggs and bacon onto a pre-heated plated.

"Of course that's okay Meredith, it'll be good for you to meet some of the locals. Just remember to keep your hand on your ha'penny around boys. Boys your age are hormone riddled messes so just be careful." What on earth was a ha'penny, Meredith thought. She frowned trying to work out what Anne was saying to her and the she realised, in other words she meant don't have sex. Meredith blushed, she never usually did but of some reason she was blushing now.

"So where do you need to be dropped and at what time?" Anne asked her as she placed the warm plate in front of her.

"Um… Addison's house at two. And thanks so much for the food you really didn't have to-"

"It was my pleasure Meredith and Gerry will give you a lift, I don't drive." Meredith smiled, she really loved Anne. Her mother would have never thought of pouring a bowl of cereal for Meredith let alone cooking for her. Meredith was enjoying the affection that Anne so openly showed her. She wondered how Ellis had been so cold and closed off when she had such warm, kind and affectionate parents. It didn't make any sense.

Meredith enjoyed the food she hadn't realised she was so hungry, she chatted away to Anne, who had returned to her apple pie, as she ate. After she was finished she returned to her room and pulled out a pair of dark blue, ripped skinny jeans from her drawer as well as some underwear, she put it all on having to suck in her tummy to fasten the button on her jeans. She put on a pretty, feminine, simple cream blouse. Meredith had never worn the blouse before it had always been a bit too 'cutesy', she'd no idea why she'd bought it, it was an impulse buy. She was surprised but she liked it, it was very casual but flattering, she thought looking at it in the mirror. She teamed the outfit with a pair of converse, threw on a light layer of foundation and some lip gloss and blusher. Then she took her chocolate brown, leather jacket out of her cupboard and draped it over the chair at her desk.

She made her bed quickly and opened the curtains, taking a minute to admire the view. It was incredible. She could see a set of black and white lock gates from her window as well as the river barrow and the canal. Clumps of different trees were also visible on both sides of the river back but what struck Meredith was how green and lush the grass was. The beauty of nature was clear to see in this area. Just looking out the window she understood why so many classic poets chose to write about the topic.

Gerry called up to her telling her that it was time for them to leave. She grabbed her coat and phone and hurried downstairs While it was out of character for Meredith Grey to be excited about anything she found herself excited to meet Addison's friends and to see Addison again. Damnit Meredith, remember you cannot get attached to anyone here this is a temporary pit stop, she reminded herself. Despite telling herself this she still couldn't rid herself of the excitement in the pit of her stomach

_**MIDDLE Of NOWHERE**_

_AN: Thoughts?_

_Questions? _

_Fan mail?_

_Complaints?_

_Urges to throw eggs at the author?_

_As usual, anything and everything is welcome._

_Thanks for your time,_

_Katie_

_**Fun Fact: The river running through Graiguenamanagh is called the River Barrow. It is one of the 'Three Sisters' – three rivers with the same source. The other two 'sisters' are the Nore (pronounced 'nor') and the Suir (pronounced 'sure').**_


	4. Chapter 4

_Middle Of Nowhere_

_AN: Yes Anonymous I'm still here. Sorry for going AWOL and not updating like I promised to; school has been insane. Fifth year is no joke let me tell you! It's attempting to eat me alive. I'm just going to try to write short updates more often because the thought of writing four thousand words plus, doing homework, study and sport is a little intimidating._

_Derek makes an appearance in this one._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing… if I owned Grey's Anatomy Meredith and Derek wouldn't be fighting._

**Chapter 4 – The Crew**

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

When Meredith knocked on Addison's door she felt slightly intimidated, her house was_ huge_!It was at three storeys high and looked at least four thousand square feet from the outside. The façade of the house was built from a dark grey stone and it seemed as if they were trying to conform to the general rural style with their three dormer windows. Despite the McCabe-Montgomery's best attempts however, it didn't really blend in with the rest of the houses in the area.

Archer answered the door; he was still wearing pyjamas and looked like he had just crawled out of bed. His hair was sticking out in all directions and he wore a dazed expression on his face. He smiled lazily at Meredith and then motioned with his hand for her to enter, before turning around and walking inside. She followed him into the hallway and shut the door.

"So we didn't scare you off yesterday?" he asked her chuckling and rubbing dried drool from his chin. Meredith shook her head and followed him into what she assumed was the kitchen. "Addie'll be down in a minute, she's doing her make up or some shit." Archer, Meredith had learned last night, was not the most eloquent of folks and a great number of sentences he spoke included one expletive or another.

Meredith nodded and then stood awkwardly beside the highly polished marble counter top. Archer left her because he needed to shower. The kitchen around her was pristine. The cream tiles on the floor reflected the light from the recently cleaned windows back up into her eyes so that she had to squint to look at it. The cupboards were oak, as was the kitchen table. Three stools sat at the counter and a bowl of fresh fruit was on the counter top too. Meredith thought the whole room felt a bit impersonal, it reminded her of her kitchen back home. Ellis had so rarely been home to make use of the kitchen and just left Meredith money for takeout.

"Meredith," Addison shouted down the stairs. "Come upstairs!" Frowning, Meredith followed the order. She entered the corridor and found the stairs. She climbed the stairs and found that Addison's room was the first she passed on the second floor, the door was open. Meredith walked in.

"Hey," Addison said casually, running a brush through her long hair. "Sorry I'm so behind, I went on Facebook and next thing I knew it was half past one and hadn't showered yet!" Meredith knew exactly what that was like; she too had spent hours on Facebook before realising just how late it'd gotten.

"No worries."

Meredith stood awkwardly in the room, once again reminding herself that the key to survival was to stay detached. She knew that she could only make surface level connections because anything more than that only led to pain. At the same time, however, she knew she couldn't run a hundred miles in the other direction if someone was to show her affection. She had to make it through the next three years in the middle of nowhere and some casual friendships might make her life somewhat easier. So she was going to make an effort to get on with Addison friends. She didn't expect or _want_ to make close friends during her brief stay in Graiguenamanagh but at the same time she didn't want a boring life and if she had no friends she wouldn't be invited out. Meredith knew only too well that no going out equalled no drinking herself into oblivion. Tequila, like always, would be her best friend but acquaintances, who weren't peppy and sickening, could make for a more exciting and bearable life.

"So," Addison said, smoothing her top, "you ready?"

Meredith nodded and smiled, she sure was.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

The two girls were walking down Main Street in the direction of the Supervalu, the town's small supermarket. There they were to meet the rest of the gang. Meredith was trying to suppress her excitement; she didn't want these perfectly sane individuals to think she was a Lexie type. As a result, showing any such excitement was out of the question. As they neared the shop Meredith could make out a crowd of teenagers standing in the entrance to the shop, two or three of them were holding coke can cans and one was smoking. There were three girls and four guys. The boys weren't too bad looking, she thought to herself. In fact, one might say they were quite hot!

"Late as always Addie," said the one with the dark perfectly styled hair. He was wearing washed out jeans and casual red shirt with the top few buttons undone. What surprised Meredith most was that he had an American accent, he sounded like he was from some part of New York.

"Shut up Derek," Addison replied rolling her eyes. So Derek was his name, Meredith thought. He was probably the best looking of the four and by the looks of things he was American. "Guys, this is Meredith Grey, she's my cousin and she's from Boston Derek. You are no longer the only American person in our year."

"Nice to meet you," said Derek extending his hand to Meredith. Meredith shook it and smiled back at him. He was cocking his head to the side and giving a smile that would break the hearts of women everywhere. Meredith could feel her heart beating fast in her chest. It just wasn't fair that this boy could do that to her!

"I'm Mark," said the guy standing beside Derek, his smile was nothing in comparison to Derek's but Meredith couldn't deny that he too was good looking. He was wearing blue jeans and a tight green t-shirt that showed off his abs. Next Callie and Arizona introduced themselves before Owen, Christina and Alex followed suit. They all seemed nice enough Meredith thought.

The group began to move in the direction of the field by the river, which was across the bridge by the newsagents. Meredith fell into step beside Christina and Addison. She wasn't quite sure what to think of Christina, she seemed cold and calculating. Meredith got the impression that she didn't like her very much but it was going to take a lot more than that to faze Meredith.

In the field there were two benches and a couple of bales of hay. Derek opened his backpack and took a picnic blanket out and laid it on the ground. Addison sat down on the blanket and with a nod of her head encouraged Meredith to sit next to her. Meredith did so without complaint; it cut out some of the awkwardness.

"Weather's good," Owen (or at least Meredith thought his name was Owen) said stretching and yawning before plonking himself down next to her. "So new girl," he said smiling at her, "tell us about yourself." Meredith frowned, everything was kind of awkward.

"My name's Meredith Grey. I'm from Seattle but I moved to Boston when I was five. I'm fifteen. I'm now living here because my mom died and I'm staying with my grandparents. They seem lovely but I don't really know them that well. My favourite colour is blue. I don't know what I want to do when I leave school and I'm generally boring person. I like to escape from problems by drinking tequila and now my rambling is getting too personal so I'll stop."

It was silent for a moment before Cristina spoke, "You drink tequila straight?" she asked impressed and Meredith nodded, "I like her," she said smiling at Meredith. Owen (or possibly not Owen, Meredith really wasn't good with names) agreed with her, flashing her smile and a not-so-subtle wink, Meredith could tell that there was something deeper going on between them.

"I like her a lot too," Callie said. "I think she'll make a good addition to the group."

"She's cool," said the guy whose name Meredith could not remember.

"Um… I'm right here. I'd appreciate it if you'd talk to me rather than about me!" Meredith said annoyed, _she_ wasn't completely sure that _she_ liked these people.

"That does it for me. Welcome to the crew Grey, were happy to have you." Mark said. "I have a feeling you and I are going to be partner in crime."

"Thanks for actually speaking to me Mark; I appreciate being treated like a human being."

"I _really_ like her," said Cristina, a wide grin spreading across her face. Meredith glared back, Cristina realising her mistake smirked. "A little advice ignore Sloan, he's trouble. Oh Sloan's Mark by the way."

"My advice is to ignore Cristina and Mark and you'll be fine," Arizona told her. "It's nice to meet you Meredith."

Meredith noticed that Derek had been quite the whole time, she frowned. Did he not like her or something? For goodness sake Meredith, she scolded herself, why should she care what he thought. They were never going to be more than casual friends at best.

As if hearing her thoughts Derek spoke up, "I have one question, do you support the Yankees."

"Baseball?" she laughed raising one eyebrow, "No I'm a big Red Sox fan."

"Well I guess that means we can't be friends," he said playfully. Meredith knew that this was the perfect moment to make a sarcastic dig.

"Who said I'd want to be friends with you?"

"Are you saying that you don't?" Derek challenged, his blue eyes twinkling. The way he was smiling at her made a comeback difficult to come up with but Meredith was stubborn. She hated losing so she tried not to look at him.

"Yes I think that's what I said quite clearly, just a second ago. Do you have short term memory loss or are you deaf?"

"I am neither Ms. Grey but I think you'll find that I am a good friend to have."

It was then that Meredith realised that everyone around her was pissing themselves laughing and she allowed herself to smile for a second before regaining composure. "I will politely decline your offer Mr.-"

"Shepherd."

"I will politely decline your offer Mr. Shepherd. I'm fairly sure that I can and will survive without your friendship."

"I like I challenge," He replied his smile growing even wider. Meredith took deep breaths and tried her best to stay level headed. She had a feeling that the next three years were definitely going to be interesting.

"You won't change my mind Shepherd."

"Yeh Shep, you should shut up she's already agreed to be my partner in crime," Mark interjected reminding Meredith that there was a world outside of her and Derek Shepherd.

"I don't believe I agreed to that Mark," Meredith said smirking.

"It's inevitable Grey, you should accept it. Fourth year is going to be epic because I'll have an extra set of hands."

"You're an ass."

"I second that," Addison said through her giggles. She had been surprisingly quite. She was holding the guy's (whose name Meredith could still not remember) hand. They seemed to be a cute couple.

"I think I am in love," Cristina said completely seriously, "If I was gay I'd marry you!"

"Hey!" Arizona interjected hitting Cristina on the arm. The slap looked painful but Cristina didn't flinch at all, she just muttered something about not feeling pain. Meredith wondered why she was so touchy about the word 'gay'.

"I don't swing that way either but thanks."

"Any time," Cristina said, standing up and telling Owen to move so she could sit next to her soul mate.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

The rest of the went well for Meredith she quickly learned a huge amount about them all and their personalities. Cristina was the ambitious and somewhat ruthless one, in Meredith's opinion Cristina was great. She was definitely the type of person shed get on with. Owen was the rock of the group and the voice of reason. Mark was the man-whore. Alex was the sometimes man-whore who had been reformed by Addison over the last three months. He was tough on the outside but Meredith thought that there hint at something softer beneath his hardened exterior. Arizona was the peppy one but not to the point where it was sickening. She was just the happy, loving, positive type but she wasn't naïve. Callie was the sarcastic yet slightly crazy one. Addison was just Addison.

As for Derek, well, he seemed to be the most difficult one to describe. He had been persistent all afternoon, constantly trying to get Meredith to talk to him. She'd just ignored his attempts and he'd looked a little like an injured puppy dog because of it. Meredith had tried her best not to look at his face convinced his dazzling smile would make her snap or ramble. She didn't want to let him win. His ego was to big already without him winning this. At the very least she would try and hold out a little longer. Meredith Grey would not go down without a fight.

Meredith was walking back to Addison's house; Addison had invited her back for dinner. When the rest of the group were out of sight Addison attacked.

"What was that between you and Shepherd? There was some serious flirting going on there!"

Meredith felt the blood pool in her cheeks, she never blushed. Why was she blushing now, when Addison was completely wrong, she asked herself? Somewhere deep down though she was thinking that if Addison thought they were flirting then maybe Derek liked her too. "I was not flirting with him I was just engaging in some good natured banter. It was not supposed to been seen as anything more than that and I'm sure that Derek understood that-"

"Whoa calm down Mer, I was just teasing you."

"I wasn't flirting with him," Meredith said huffily.

"I think you were."

"I wasn't."

"I disagree."

"Shut up."

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Mark and Derek were walking home together. They'd lived next door to each other since Derek's dad died and his mom had moved their whole family back to Graiguenamanagh so she could be near her parents. It was understandable with five kids that she needed the helping hand.

"Man, what was that with Grey earlier?"

"It was nothing Mark as I told you and Owen about ten times earlier."

"Yeh I know what you told me and Hunt but I still don't think you're telling the truth. I'm going to ask you again, what was that with Grey earlier?"

"It was nothing Mark," Derek growled in frustration. He stopped walking and glared at his best friend.

"Derek and Meredith sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Mark sang.

Derek tried to punch him but Mark was quick and dodged the attack artfully. This only frustrated Derek more.

"First comes love, second comes marriage…"

"Mark Sloan if you don't shut up now I swear to God I will beat you into next week," Derek threatened his voice low.

"I can take you, plus I doubt Grey would like you with a broken nose Shep," Mark laughed and continued on walking.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

_Done! _

_Thoughts?_

_Complaints?_

_Hate Mail?_

_Questions?_

_Everything's Welcome!_

_**Fan Fact: There is proof that Brandon Hill near Graiguenamanagh was populated around four thousand years ago. A Neolithic burial tomb was discovered in Graiguenamanagh in the 1930s when pipes were being replaced.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_Yes I am still alive. Yes I am actually posting._

_Response to the last chapter was down a little but I suppose that was because I may have lost some readers during to my long absence which is completely understandable. Thanks to all reviewers, alerters and favouriters, your support is much appreciated!_

_**Sorry it's been so long again**__, I've had mountains of school work to do and I went abroad to Cheltenham in England for an inter-schools hockey tournament. My school came 6__th__ out of 14, which wasn't too bad seeing as we were the smallest school competing and missing our two international players as well as some other players on our A squad. Even still, not a great excuse I promise to try harder._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, Harry Potter or Facebook. That is all._

Chapter 5 – Facebook Antics

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

When Meredith logged on to her Facebook account – she had eight friend requests, twelve messages and fourteen notifications. She was fairly sure all of this activity and demand had to be a record for her – she hadn't been online in four days so she figured that was the explanation. She clicked on the friend requests first. Meredith had requests from Archer, Addison, Lexie, Molly, Owen, Cristina, Mark and Derek.

She paused for a moment, she didn't particularly want to be friends with Molly or Lexie but she didn't want to offend either of them so she accepted all requests except Derek's. She'd told him that she didn't want to be friends and in her mind if general friendship was off limits therefore so was Facebook. Plus she was still embarrassed over what had happened earlier. It had _not_ been flirting. Meredith didn't flirt with some guy she'd just met, well she did but that was neither here or there, she had definitely not been flirting with Derek! Even if she had kind of wanted to… Meredith was only too well aware that declining Derek's request would piss him off. She knew it would wipe his stupid, charming, drool-worthy smile off his face even if only for a minute.

Next, she checked out her messages by clicking on the message icon. There was nothing interesting there just links to two funny pictures of cats that looked like Hitler, people wishing her well in Ireland and Jack Cantrell thanking her for the supply of free tequila she'd left behind because she hadn't been able to fit it in her case.

After she'd read all the messages and replied to anything that merited a reply, she checked her notifications. Sadie had posted to her wall and posted a link to her wall, she'd been tagged in three photos, Jack Cantrell had posted to her wall, a few people had commented on picture of her and people had commented in groups she was part of. She checked the photos first, they were from the party the day before she left, the first one was of her, Sadie and some guy she'd never seen before. In the other two pictures she looked completely stoned. Meredith untagged all three.

She clicked on her profile picture in the top left corner which brought her to her profile. She read Jack's post and smiled – '_I miss you Mer no one else will do tequila shots with me' _– she didn't even know Jack that well; she didn't miss him, the tequila shots on the other hand… She liked the post before commenting below – _'I just miss the tequila'_. Smirking she read Sadie's post – '_Frankly I'm glad you're gone Death because you smell. Yours Sincerely, Sadie' _– Meredith snorted, that was typical. She liked the post but didn't bother to respond. She'd comment on the link instead.

The link that Sadie had posted to her wall read – '_"I wasn't that drunk" "Dude, you were in my fireplace yelling Diagon Alley" '_. Sadie had also left a message above the link – '_You after a night with a bottle of Tequila'_.Meredith laughed; she only remembered chunks of the night where she'd been so drunk she'd thought she was Harry Potter, however Sadie's videos did fill in a lot of gaps in her memory. Sadie actually had a video of her in Jack's fireplace trying to travel by floo also had seen photos from the night where she could see the eyeliner lightning bolt scar she'd drawn on her forehead and the stick she believed was a wand. The funny thing was Meredith had never even particularly liked the Harry Potter books. Meredith typed a comment in the box below the link; – _'It wasn't even your fireplace. Expelliarmus!' _– and hit enter.

Two rectangular boxes had popped up in the bottom right-hand corner of the page –Addison and Cristiana were trying to contact her using chat. She clicked on both boxes Addison's greeting was a polite '_Hi :)' _whereas Christina's was _'Hey Bitch'. _They were exactly what Meredith was expecting. She replied to Addison first with a simple '_Hi'_ and Cristina second with an equally bad-mannered _'Hey whore'. _She checked the comments in the different groups she was a member of but they were about pointless topics that she didn't care about.

By the time she had navigated to the picture that some people in her grade back home had commented on Addison had replied. She read the comment on the picture before checking Addison's message, it read – _'Wow your hair is so different :O'. _Meredith rolled her eyes, she didn't get why people were finding it so hard to adjust to the fact that her hair was no longer pink. She only had pink hair for three months after all! The dye she'd used had only been semi-permanent and had worn off. Had her mother not died she probably would've dyed it back pink because Meredith's pink hair had always pissed Ellis off. However, she hadn't wanted to scare her grandparents, they had taken her in without complaint and she didn't want to be a burden. The last thing they would've needed was a pink-haired teenager with ridiculously thick black eyeliner. To top it off she had never really liked it pink, she really had just done it to piss Ellis off. Meredith much preferred her natural hair colour than her former bright pink hair.

Meredith checked Addison's message – _'you coming out tomorrow?' _– and bit her lip. Yes she probably would, she typed her answer quickly – _'I'll have to ask. What are you doing?' _– she hit enter and noticed that Cristina too had replied. She opened the message and laughed – _'fucker' _– it looked like Meredith had just engaged in a cursing/ insult competition with Cristina. She sniggered she liked Cristina a lot. She typed her response – _'fat pig'_. Almost instantly she had a reply – _'smelly shithead' _– nice use of alliteration, Meredith thought_. _Now Meredith had to come up with a suitable insult and insults had never been her strongest suit. Poohead didn't seemed strong enough but she didn't know how far she could push the boundaries, she _had_ already insulted Cristina's weight but the girl was a beanpole so it wasn't really going to bother her. It was hard to have a slagging match with someone you had just met because only knowing a person for a day meant you couldn't know how they'd react. Meredith could tell Cristina was tough but how tough?

In order to procrastinate, she turned her mind to Addison's message – _'We were thinking a movie marathon at Mark's, his parents are never there.' _Movies could be fun, Meredith thought. _'Okay I'm in. Should I bring anything?' –_ she typed before pondering insults once again. 'Filthy slut' was the best she could come up with so she sent it, along with a message informing Cristina that she had to go. Addison had responded _'If you have some good DVDs bring them, Owen's getting the drink so bring some money to pay him back.' _ She smiled, oh she was definitely in if drink was involved. She told Addison she had to go and asked her to text her details about when and where everyone was meeting later. Meredith stretched and yawned, it was crazy how the past half hour had flown.

Meredith was just about to sign out of Facebook when she noticed that she had one new message, it was from Derek. _'You didn't accept :(… harsh Grey, I'm hurt'. _Meredith giggled, she realised now that this probably was flirting and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. She debated ignoring his message but a niggling voice in the back of her head kept urging her to reply. Meredith decided to be impulsive and go for it. She kept her response short and joking like his – _'We're not friends Derek, why lie to the world?' _She hit send and almost instantly regretted it. What if he took it the wrong way? Or what if just sounded embarrassing? Or what if it came across as flirting? Or what if… she stopped herself; Meredith knew she needed to stop over thinking this whole think there was nothing she could do now, the message was sent.

Then she clicked the menu in the top left-hand corner and logged out. Meredith got up and plugged her phone into the charger. After that she left the room, switching off the light as she passed the switch on the way out the door. She wanted to spend a little time with Anne and Gerry before she went to bed.

What had happened to staying unattached? In under a day Meredith Grey had begun to let herself become tied down to Graiguenamanagh and the people she'd met, completely unbeknownst to herself.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Derek walked into his living room. It was a small room with pale yellow walls, a cream carpet, a brown leather couch, a computer, an old TV and very plain red curtains. He found Kathleen and Nancy were sitting on the couch reading _more_ magazines, Amelia was drawing and Rachel was staring blankly out the window. None of them even stirred when he and Mark came in they just continued on doing what they were doing. This didn't bother Derek; he'd prefer that they ignore him rather than overwhelm him like they sometimes did. Mark headed straight for the computer, which was sitting on a desk opposite the window which Rachel was so absorbed by. Derek followed him.

"Oh hey Mark," Nancy said glancing up from her magazine. So Nancy still wasn't talking to him! It wasn't his fault that there had been no cereal left for breakfast when she'd gotten up at half twelve, well it sort of was, seeing as he'd eaten all of it. Still, how was he to know that she was no longer eating toast for breakfast? Some rubbish about going on a diet before she started University in October. Anyway, Derek felt it was ridiculously petty that she was still not talking to him over a bowl of cornflakes.

"Hey Nancy-pants," Mark replied smirking. Ah, so Mark was intending on winding her up again, Derek realised.

"I told you not to call me that Markie." Derek sniggered, that was low. He was impressed and very surprised that Mark didn't bite back and also somewhat disappointed. Derek was definite that Nancy deserved some kind of karmic retribution over her handling of the cereal fiasco.

Mark logged into Facebook and Derek sat on the couch beside Kathleen. She smiled when he sat down, moving her feet over to give him more room. "What were you up to today Der-Bear?" she asked, depositing her magazine on the floor in front of her. Kathleen smoothed her navy skirt as she waited for his answer.

"Nothing much," Derek said shrugging. "We all just went to the field next to John Walsh's, it was fine."

"Shep's leaving something out Kath; he met Addison's cousin, Meredith today. I think he has a bit of a crush on her."

"Mark!" Derek said threateningly, his voice dangerously low.

"Wait like met-met? As in making-out met?" Nancy asked perking up. Derek was going red. He hated the word 'met'; he didn't understand why the Irish couldn't use the term 'make out' like the American's did. The use of the the term 'meeting' for making out caused untold confusion in general conversation. Hell, even the word snogging was better – and he hated that word!

"Nah, like 'Hi I'm Derek' met but I'm sure he wouldn't have minded the other form of meeting," Mark said smirking away to him and wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

"Asshole," Derek muttered, scowling at his best friend.

"Derek Christopher Shepherd watch your language!" his mother shouted from the kitchen next-door. How the hell did his mom here that? Damn her insanely overactive hearing!

"Sorry mom," he called back somewhat sheepishly. He did think Mark was an asshole but Amelia was only eleven and he didn't want her to start cussing.

"So what's she like Der-Bear?" asked Nancy, her eyes glinting evilly. So she was talking to him now? Great, that meant she was going to torment him.

"Just drop it," Derek said standing up and walking towards the computer to see what Mark was doing.

"Do you like her?" she continued, ignoring his request.

"I told you to drop it."

"Is she-" Kathleen cut Nancy off scowling, angrily at her.

"He told you to drop it Nancy, leave him alone," Kathleen warned cutting Nancy off scowling, angrily at her.

"Yeh Nancy, stop being a meanie-poo," Amelia told her, a frown etched into her childish face. Amelia was upset that Derek was unhappy. She had always idolised her only brother. At Amelia's comment both Mark and Rachel started to piss themselves' laughing and the tension in the room was partially alleviated. Everyone returned to their earlier activity except for Rachel who went to help Carolyn Shepherd with the dinner.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

After dinner, Derek and Mark went back to the computer to check their Facebook's. Both of them had a mail from Addison asking what they wanted to do tomorrow to which Mark responded that his house was free if they needed it. Derek had a friend request from some girl named Rose who he thought may have been his lab partner in science class in first year as she was vaguely familiar to him. Mark had laughed at her picture and said she looked like a horse but Derek had defended her telling Mark that he too looked like a horse. He didn't, however, deny Mark's claims.

Mark then decided that it was time that they Facebook stalked Meredith Grey. He tried to find her in Addison's friends but she wasn't there and next he tried searching her name in the search bar. They were in luck as there were only three Meredith Greys, one was in her late thirties and more than a little obese, one was from London and the final one was the Meredith Grey he knew. He thought she looked incredible in her profile picture; she was wearing dark skinny jeans and a green long-sleeved shirt. Her hair hung in messy plait, which was draped over her left shoulder. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and she was staring off into the distance with a pair of big black headphones over her ears. She was so hot. Wait did he just think that?

"I'll add her for you," Mark told Derek and Derek nodded.

Mark clicked 'send friend request' and then flicked through her profile pictures. They were both surprised to see that in some of them she had pink hair. When they saw this Mark declared her 'too badass for a guy who played saxophone', to which Derek replied that he wasn't interested in her anyway. Mark just rolled his eyes and continued clicking. When they reached the picture Meredith in a bikini from last summer both boys stopped dead. It took all of Derek's self control not to drool and babble like some kind of love-struck idiot.

"Man, she's hot," Mark said licking his lips. Derek felt a jolt of something like jealously run through his veins and while he tried to deny it he knew why. Mark noticing his obvious discomfort at the comment tried to calm him, "don't worry," he said, "I'll back off. I get that she's yours but she does have a rocking bod." Derek didn't even bother to protest at the fact that Mark had implied he liked her again, he was still mesmerised by the girl in the photograph. Maybe he did like her.

Mark logged out of Derek's Facebook and into his own and sent Meredith a friend request. Then he read Addison's message and told her that he had no problem with a movie marathon at his house but under no circumstances were chick flicks allowed because apparently, Mark Sloan did not do 'pansy-assed shit'.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Later when Derek, Mark and Kathleen were sitting on the couch watching _Lost, _Mark began to laugh while looking at his iPhone. He glanced to towards Derek and laughed harder. "I'm sorry man but it looks like Meredith ignored your friend request because she's friends with me, Addie, Owen and Cristina. I guess she meant it when she said she didn't want to be friends."

"Give me that," Derek growled, he realised Mark had been telling the truth. He felt his heart sink, did she really dislike him that much. He logged into his own account, searched Meredith Grey and sent her a message _– You didn't accept :(… harsh Grey, I'm hurt'._ He hoped it sounded nonchalant enough; after all it _had_ taken him five minutes to compose.

When her response arrived back he was glad to see it was of a playful nature. He decided that he would just spam her with friend requests until she gave up, project befriend Meredith Grey was about to begin. He sent her a message before sending his next friend request _– 'If you want to play like that fine but know I'll be playing dirty too'. _He hit send and then regretted it; he hoped she wouldn't think the he had intended the word 'dirty' to have sexual connotations. Shit, what if she thought he was a complete creep?

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

_AN: __**Do you have any crazy Facebook stories?**_

_Feel free to leave a review or pm me with questions, comments and/ or complaints._

_The next chapter is finished and I'll post it soon!_

_**Fun Fact: Graiguenamanagh is home to the Duiske Abbey, a church, built as part of the monastery complex. It was one of the fist buidings in Ireland to be built in the gothic style.  
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	6. Chapter 6

_Hello Everyone,_

_Yes it's late but I've got end of term exams in two days time so I've been sorta busy… It's short and fluffy but I thought I should provide you with something._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy. I do own a laptop._

**Chapter 6 — Movies and the like**

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Mark Sloan's house was enormous. It was easily the biggest house in the Graiguenamanagh area. The house itself was neo-Georgian and stood on forty acres of land just outside of the country town. The style of the building was very strange for the sleepy country town in which the majority of its inhabitants lived in farm houses or traditional, small semi-detached houses.

Vincent and Catherine Sloan insisted on being different, in fact they prided themselves on it. The pair were constantly looking for some way to show the people of Graiguenamanagh just how wealthy they were. They flashed their cash by driving expensive sports cars wholly unsuited to the poor country roads in the area and jetting off to exotic locations on a regular basis.

Vincent had not been a native of Graiguenamanagh he had moved their when he married Catherine. He had been born and bred in a wealthy suburb of Dublin city. His father had been a high court judge and his mother the ever faithful house wife and as such he'd had a privileged upbringing. He had made his money at a young age, setting up a successful chain of supermarkets, which he had sold on for the tidy sum of fifty-eight million euro. Since that day, having a huge amount of money, he had no need to work in order to provide his wife with the lifestyle that they both wanted.

Catherine Sloan on the other hand was the definition of a social climber. In addition to that she also had other unattractive personality traits such as being manipulative, superficial and attention seeking as well as having a massive superiority complex. She was smug and looked down on the inhabitants of Graigue whom she considered beneath her. She was not a native of Graigue herself but her mother had been, she had visited the town during summers and stayed with her grandparents in a small house on the land where she currently lived. She had been an only child and as a result had been spoilt by her parents. Catherine attended college in Dublin to study Business and Law where she had met her husband. They dated for two years before he proposed to her. Catherine who had never wanted to practice business or law quickly dropped out of university and dedicated herself to becoming the perfect housewife. Despite her selfishness, Catherine had always wanted a child but she lost interest in being a mother within half a year of having Mark. They lived a luxurious lifestyle and left Mark with some member of the extended family for the most part. Since Mark turned thirteen they had just left him in the house by himself, asking his great aunt to check on him occasionally. Mark was fairly sure that he had _the_ worst parents.

Mark didn't have much contact with his parents they emailed occasionally and picked up his credit card bill. They spend four or five weeks in Graigue during the year and Mark stayed at Derek's when they were home. Mark hated his parents; he felt they were materialistic, superficial and selfish. Carolyn Shepherd was the closest thing he had to a mother. The woman had five children of her own to mind but that didn't stop her from giving just as much time and attention to Mark as she did to Derek or the girls.

As much as possible Mark tried to avoid his house, it was quiet, disturbingly so, and that freaked Mark out. It was always so clinical (thanks to the cleaning lady his parents employed) and it didn't feel like a home. So, Mark spent his days at the Shepherd's and stayed there when he could. On nights when he ended up staying home alone, he turned on all the televisions and the lights in the house so he didn't have to feel so alone. However, one benefit of the vacant house was it was the perfect venue for a party because his parents didn't care. Mark had hosted more gaffs than he could count on one hand and his friends always went there when they needed a private place to drown their sorrows.

As such Mark was in his house today, waiting for his friends to arrive. Derek was already there; they had both just walked up from the Shepherd's, and he was busy trying to perfect his hair in the mirror. "Derek," Mark called up to him, "if you put any more gel in your hair it will be as slippy as an ice rink. He received a string of expletives as a reply. He was well aware that Derek was just trying to impress Meredith Grey, the new love of his life. Of course, Mark was taking every opportunity to mock Derek about this. "Shep, you better hope Meredith likes hair gel…"

"Mark!"

"Well imagine she didn't…what if she was allergic or something?"

"Fuck off Mark," said Derek, strolling into the room, finally finished his hair do. Mark had to admit it didn't look to bad, it was certainly better than the afro Derek had sported when he first arrived in Graigue.

"So how many bottles did you use?"

"Shut the fuck up about my hair you bastard!"

"Whoa no need to be so touchy Der Bear," Mark said bring his arms up to shield his face. "Just because it's your time of month does not mean you need to take it out on me…" Mark ducked just in time, he was very lucky to avoid Derek's fist colliding with his face.

"I like his hair," said Addison who was standing in the door way.

"Hey Addie," Mark said turning around, "how did you get in?"

"I climbed in through the window on the second floor! How do you think I got in Marcus?"

"So I left the door unlocked?"

"No shit Sherlock," Derek said from behind him.

"Well Mer is on her way as is everyone else. Now Mark, I think it would be appropriate that you offer me a drink or a seat while we wait for everyone."

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Meredith yawned and reclined further into the couch. This movie just wasn't scary. She knew that Addison and Arizona were jumping and gasping occasionally but _What Lies Beneath_ was sort of predictable. Meredith always felt like she was a step ahead of the plot despite the fact she was mildly intoxicated.

"The acting in this is so bad!" Cristiana exclaimed from her spot on the floor beside Owen.

"Harrison Forde is not a bad actor," Mark refuted, sounding mildly pissed off.

"No I agree with Cristina the acting _is_ bad and the plot is awful," Derek said, Mark turned and glared at him. Meredith was glad she wasn't the only one who was bored to tears by the plot.

"Shut up Derek, you're ruining the mood!" Addison said, not bothering to hide the irritation and annoyance in her voice. Callie was guffawing at this stage her eyes trained on the warring parties.

"There is no mood Addie, unless the mood is boredom. Why would you choose this movie?" Derek asked her, his voice dripping with distain.

"I chose it because it's good asshole," Addison replied, firing an empty beer can at Derek's head. Derek's reflexes were obviously impaired by the alcohol he drank earlier because he did not attempt to dodge the beer can, which hit him in the forehead. He looked slightly dazed as he sat there, Meredith had expected him to angry but instead he just turned back to the TV. No one said a word for about a minute; they all just sat there slightly confused by the exchange.

Just as the ghost had appeared again Cristina, Callie and Arizona all began to piss themselves laughing. Meredith smiled wryly, sitting up straighter and declaring it to be the worst movie she'd ever seen. Her statement was met with agreement by everyone but Addison, Mark and Alex. Meredith was fairly sure that the two of them just didn't want to get on Addison's bad side. Both sides began hurling insults at each until Owen got everyone to shut up with the promise of more beer.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Later that afternoon Meredith ventured in to the kitchen to get some water. She began to open cupboards in the vain hope of finding a glass or even a mug.

"It's the third door on the left," A male voice told her. She turned around to find Derek Shepherd standing in the doorway. Had he followed her?

"Thanks," she muttered and turned back to the cupboards and retrieved a glass and filled it with water. "Did you follow me in here?" she asked frowning.

"As a matter o' fact I did," Derek answered slurring his word slightly. "I wanna know why you won't accept me as a friend on Facebook."

"'Cause we're not friends Derek."

"But we could be _really_good friends…"

"Wow! You are _really _drunk!" Meredith said chuckling. "Like I told you yesterday we can't be friends because it just wouldn't work, 'cause your from New York and I'm from Boston and you support the Yankees and I support the Red Sox and yeh… So we shouldn't be friends 'cause o' that an' I hope don' remember this conv'rsation in the morning 'cause I'm ramb'ling and this embarrassing so yeh… Let's not be friends." Meredith picked up her glass of water and made a quick exit. Derek stayed standing in the Sloan's massive kitchen trying to decipher what Meredith had said. He was drunk and his powers of deduction weren't that good but he found Meredith intoxicating. Furthermore he had a competitive streak and he really wanted to win.

_AN: Yeah I know very little happened but it's an update. My exams finish Thursday afternoon and I have no school on Friday so with any luck I should update with something more substantial then._

_Thoughts?_

_Thanks for your time,_

_Katie._

_Fun fact: Graiguenamangh has three bridges the oldest being the clapper bridge which dates from monastic times.  
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	7. Chapter 7

_**Middle Of Nowhere**_

_AN: So yeah, it's late, again. I'm sorry I got caught up with pressure of Christmas shopping, carol services with my choir and festivities._

_I've noticed that there has been a decline in the number of readers and reviewers and I'd imagine that's a result of my inability to update on time, my laziness at proof reading and short chapters. __**Thanks to those who still read, review and alert etc. I'm sure you find me infuriating but seriously I appreciate you all.**_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing at all… I don't even own Graiguenamanagh. My parents do own a house in the area though…_

_**Chapter 7 – Of Lazy Days and Text-a-Thons**_

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Somehow Meredith had managed to sober up enough to fool her grandparents by the time Gerry collected her. A little chewing gum and a litre of water did the trick. Meredith was careful not to talk too much during the four minute ride home, knowing from experience that while Gerry might not realise that she was slightly tipsy now, he would know without a doubt the moment she opened her mouth.

Anne had kept dinner for her. Meredith gratefully declined, claiming that she was still dealing with the jet lag and just wanted to shower and go to bed. Neither Gerry nor Anne questioned that but Meredith had a feeling that they knew. They had, after all, raised four children, they weren't stupid.

Meredith headed for the shower and washed her hair. After she was dry, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and collapsed onto her bed. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths for half a minute, before groaning and rolling over on to her stomach. She grabbed her phone and sent Mark the obligatory thank you text. She had actually enjoyed the afternoon and being reunited with a bottle of tequila. Meredith yawned and deposited her phone on her bedside table. She stood up and switched off the lights. She crawled into bed and shivered, the sheets were cold. She curled up into a ball and waited for sleep to claim her.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Derek had decided to stay at Mark's house, with Mark of course, rather than venture home and risk being stung by his mother. He was well aware that his mother had more than enough to deal with without the added burden of thinking her son was rebelling. She'd probably jump to conclusions and decided not only did he drink but he had some terrible drug addiction to boot. She always seemed to jump to conclusions like that. Derek could understand where she was coming from though, being a single parent of five, well six, children wasn't easy. So being the considerate child and brother he was Derek was going to save his mother the worry and himself the punishment that being stung would cause him.

He climbed out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He made his way to the guest room where he had dumped his stuff and changed. He had brought an overnight bag with him, knowing that he'd end up staying. He towel dried his hair and ran a comb through it, trying not to wince as he encountered multiple knots. Happy that his hair would be fine he sauntered on down to Mark's room to see what he was doing.

Mark Sloan's room was big. The walls were grey. He had a black desk, multiple book shelves, wardrobe and a great many other things. His room was the only one in the house that looked lived in. He had framed pictures of him and his friends and the odd poster. The large bed was unmade and clothes and shoes were scattered across the floor. It looked just like you expected the average teenage boy's room to loom like an absolute tip.

Mark sat in the centre of the large unmade bed on his laptop. He didn't even bother to look up when Derek walked in he merely grunted a greeting to his honorary brother. Derek did take offence at this treatment. He was used to it. Derek merely began to browse through Mark's stack of luxury car magazines in an effort to find something worth reading. He quickly gave up and plonked himself down on the bed next to Mark. "I see you got the gel out of your hair," he said looking at Derek.

"Shut it arsehole."

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Meredith woke up late the next morning. It was twenty to twelve when she finally rolled out of bed, which was a bit ridiculous seeing as she'd gone to bed at half nine the night before. Predictably she had a mild hangover and was tempted to feign an illness and spend the day in bed but she figured that she be able to spend the majority of the day in the house as she had no plans. She wondered what the best way to get her hands on some Tylenol, or the Irish version of the pain killer, were but she didn't want to tell Anne what exactly was wrong with her. Her grandparents had just taken her in, she try her hardest not to make bad impressions.

She meandered down the stairs at a leisurely pace, trying to ignore the constant, pounding headache she had. Luckily for Meredith, her stomach was unaffected. In fact, she was pretty hungry because she had skipped dinner the previous night and because it was almost lunch time. She met Anne in the living room, dusting. Anne told her that she was going to see Lexie and Molly's mum and asked Meredith if she wanted to come along. Meredith politely declined telling her grandmother that she was plotting a quiet day at home. She was glad that she didn't have to go Lexie and Molly certainly would not improve her headache.

After breakfast and some paracetamol, which her grandmother had left beside said breakfast Meredith changed into comfy clothes and plonked herself in front of the TV and proceeded to channel surf. She was slightly disturbed by the fact that her grandmother had known that she would need the painkillers but her head was still to sore to think about it. She occupied herself for two hours with bad reality television. Her mother had always despised reality TV but Meredith kind of enjoyed it. It was perfect for a lazy day; it required very little effort to follow. It didn't require deep thought and that made it quite comforting. Meredith had seen one episode of _Sixteen and Pregnant_ and half an episode of _Made in Chelsea_before she slipped into a peaceful slumber on the couch.

She woke an hour later when Anne returned from her aunt's. Anne insisted on providing her with hot chocolate fruit salad and a packet of biscuits for her date with the tv. She then sat down beside Meredith for the duration of _America's Next Top Model_before heading into the kitchen to make the dinner.

Dinner was carbonara and in Meredith's opinion it was divine. She enjoyed immensely, it was so much better than the constant stream of Italian takeaway she used to eat. Anne was very excited hear that Meredith's favourite food was Italian because Anne's favourite restaurant in Kilkenny City was an Italian. The restaurant was an hour away from the house and Anne promised to take Meredith there soon.

After dinner Meredith went upstairs to her room to grab a book, when she realised she hadn't checked her phone since last night. She keyed in her pass code, which was her date of birth, to unlock it. She had eight texts and three missed calls, two were from Addison and one from Cristina. Two of the texts were from Addison inviting her to her house for a 'girls' day' the next day and the other reminding her to bring pyjamas as she was expected to sleepover. She'd have to clear that one with Anne and Gerry. One was from Mark and it was a simple 'you're welcome x'. The next one was from Cristina asking if she remember seeing a black leather jacket left behind at Mark's. One was from Lexie (how had she gotten Meredith's number?) asking her if she like to go out with some of her friends later on in the week. The next was from Arizona, informing her that her parents were away next weekend and that she was having a house party. She also had one from Callie asking her to text Arizona back as the blonde was having a slight freak out that she hadn't replied yet. Finally there was one from a number she didn't have in her phone. It read _Please be my friend? I'm a really good friend ask Addie, Derek xx_. Meredith snorted, how had he and Lexie gotten her number?

She replied to Addison, informing her that it shouldn't be a problem to attend the 'girls' day' she was planning and asking what such an event entailed. She told Cristina that she had seen a leather jacket dumped on the floor in Mark's kitchen along with a backpack and an empty packet of _Tayto_ crisps. She decided not to reply to Mark's text seeing as it didn't really merit a reply, also she didn't want her new 'friend', dare she refer to him as that, to think of her as over eager. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have cared less about what people thought about her but she wanted her new 'friends', she still didn't really want to use that word, to like her. Next she tackled Lexie's text, asking how the girl had got her number and saying that she might be free someday next week and would let her know when. She wasn't exactly enamoured with the idea of spending the day with Lexie and her crew of happy-clappy individuals. She figured, however, that in order to not offend her cousin she'd have to attend at least one such gathering. She hoped that all of the positivity that would without a doubt would be rolling off Lexie and her friends wouldn't make her throw up.

Derek's reply was the hardest to compose. Derek was infuriating. She didn't know how to read him or react to him, meaning she wasn't in control. She was locked in a power struggle with a handsome boy, who made her stomach do weird acrobatic flips and her heart beat erratically. She hated it. She was even willing to admit that she was sort of attracted to Derek Shepherd despite the fact he was almost as stubborn as she was and had a competitive streak that could rival her own. Meredith knew it would be rude not to reply and although she'd like to pretend she'd never received his message she wanted to know who the traitor was. She was curious as to who had given him her number. She assumed it was Mark but she wanted confirmation. _Who gave you my number?_ She typed, ignoring any formalities and not adding any 'x's to the end. She didn't want him to think she was craking. She hit send. His response was almost instantaneous. _I can't reveal my sources :P xx. _Meredith mentally groaned, although she pretty much knew the answer it was still frustrating for her. _Spit it out Shepherd, I'm almost certain who did it. I just need confirmation._

She sat on her bed for five minutes frowning at her phone waiting for a response. Had he blown her off? Should it bother her if he had? Yes she found him attractive but that didn't mean she wanted to get with him. She could admit that his arrogant demeanour was appealing; she had no great desire to be treated like crap in a relationship. Just as she was about to give up on him responding she heard her phone beep signalling an incoming text. She opened it. _I've already told you Meredith, I'm a good friend. Good friends don't betray their friends even to another friend xxx._ She silently noted the growing number of 'x's, before quickly turning her attention back to the contents of the message. Her frown intensified. He was an asshole. _We're not friends Shepherd. How many times do I have to say it for it to register in that peanut sized brain of yours?_ This time his response was quick. _What can I say? I'm just a glutton for punishment xxx. _Meredith collapsed onto her bed and squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the urge to scream. She wanted to punch Derek Shepherd!

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Mark Sloan sat on Derek's bed in the Shepherd house. They had both returned from Mark's house when their headaches as a result of their respective hangovers had subsided. Derek's room was small and dark. It was lit by one small window which pierced the north wall. The walls were blue and bare, not littered in posters like the majority of teenager's rooms. Generally the room was tidy, the exception being the piles of books on his wooden desk. He had various types of books on science. They covered different aspects of physics, chemistry and biology. Derek often spent ages reading them, he wanted to be a doctor. He wanted to be able to save people. It was the only way he felt he could make up for not saving his dad.

"Nicely done," said Mark reading the conversation Derek had had with Meredith. "You're not just a pretty face it seems."

"Give me my phone back," Derek said sounding irritated but still grinning. "It's a private little competition we've got going. You can keep your nose out of it thank you very much."

"I gave you the girl's number," Mark answered coolly, holding the phone behind his head, just out of Derek's grasp.

"The girls name is Meredith, Markie." The malice was obvious in Derek's voice as he used the childhood nickname that he knew Mark despised. Mark didn't react to the bating. "I didn't reveal your identity so we're even."

"I couldn't give a fuck if you had revealed my identity Der bear. This is not some stupid spy movie."

"Just give me my phone back you asshole."

"Nah I think I rather send a text to Meredith. After all she should know you like her." At that moment Derek tackled Mark to the ground. The crash was heard all through the house. The two boys were on the floor and Mark was just about to punch Derek when Carolyn Shepherd arrived into the room and separated the two boys demanding to know the meaning of their unruly behaviour. Both boy's faces dropped, they'd been caught in the heat of the moment. They were each ashamed for their own reasons.

Derek hated to disappoint his mother; he was supposed to be the grown-up, responsible man of the house now that his father was gone. He knew that there was huge amount of pressure on her shoulder's raising five kids alone. He was aware that it was he who caused most of the trouble. He swallowed, once again vowing to himself to take his role seriously and to try and put less pressure on his mother.

Mark on the other hand was ashamed as Carolyn Shepherd was the closest thing to a mother that he'd ever had. She cared for him in a way his absentee mother never had and never would. He valued her caring and acceptance very highly. She had taken him in without complaint despite the fact she had no reason to do so. Carolyn had already been struggling to make ends meet and raise five children. As a result she had moved to Ireland after her late husband death because her parent had offered to help to support her financially and to provide a house for her. She had nowhere near enough money to pay for her mortgage on the house in New York. She'd had no choice but to accept her parent's generous offer and uproot her family. There emotional and financial support had proved invaluable and although Carolyn often missed New York, she was content to live in Graiguenamanagh. The thing she missed the most was Michael Shepherd. Mark was well aware of the struggle this woman had faced and he hated to throw her kindness back in her face.

"I'm sorry," both boys said at the exact same time. Carolyn could see from there repentant faces and guilt ridden eyes that they meant it.

"It's okay, however I have a dishwasher that needs to be empty, a kitchen and living to be vacuumed and laundry to be taken in of the washing line. Split the jobs between you." Mark and Derek suppressed a groan, they both _hated_housework, they were aware their punishment was deserved. "Well don't just stand there boys, get moving!"

_AN: __**If you have time to review I'd love to hear what you thought.**_

_Also I'm actually going to try my best to have another chapter up before the 9__th__ (when I go back to school). I'm free all day tomorrow and I'll try really hard to get a bit written, of course reviews would encourage me… :L_

_Thanks for your time,_

_Katie_

_Fun Fact: William Marshal was the first Norman to control the Graiguenamanagh are and it was he who invited the Cistercian monks to set up a monastery there. _


	8. Chapter 8

_AN: Em so I was supposed to update before the end of the Christmas break but time just flew away from me. Sorry. I'd make excuses but I doubt you want to hear them._

_We passed 50 reviews so thanks guys! It's very much appreciated!_

_There's a slight jump in the timeline in this chapter from Tuesday to Saturday night._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy :(... It's on my wish list though! I also don't own anything else copyrighted mentioned in this chapter._

**Chapter 8 – Let's Get Ready to Party!**

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

It was the night of Arizona's party or as the majority of the gang were calling it - Arizona's free gaff. Meredith was looking forward to it. She had finally given into Derek and agreed to be his friend two days before. She'd even accepted his Facebook request. They'd been out as a group once since and Meredith had discovered that Derek was quite funny but in a nerdy way. He was more than happy to put up with her tendency to ramble when nervous and she was beginning to think that maybe he wasn't a complete arrogant ass.

On another topic all together, Addison had walked in on Alex with one of Lexie's friends, Izzie. Mark had punched Alex and had it not been for Owen he probably would have beat the living crap out of him. Owen luckily had pulled Mark away from Alex before things escalated. Meredith thought that Mark's chivalry was sweet but felt that there was more behind it than loyalty to a friend. However, being none of her business she decided not to think anymore about the subject. Needless to say Alex invite to the nights festivities had been rescinded. He'd been deleted from the Facebook group as well thus he had officially been disbarred from their crew.

Addison was managing well or so it seemed. She was wearing well groomed façade to hide any pain. She had plans to let it all go tonight, get drunk and make out with as many hot guys as she could find. She also intended to have as many pictures of herself engaged in these activities taken as possible. Addison then was going to tag herself in these pictures on Facebook to show the world (namely Alex) that she could not be hurt by some stupid boy.

Meredith was sitting on Arizona's bed watching Addison try on loads of different slutty outfits. She could understand Addison's angle and who was she to judge? Back home she had whored herself out with no good reason at all except that she had been VERY drunk. Addison was apparently stuck between a very fitted and very short black dress and red leather hot pants with a black v-necked tank top. Meredith would've guessed that neither were her usual style.

"Look Addie, I get where your coming from but you don't have to dress like a total slut to get guys," Arizona said.

"Yeah," chorused Cali, "dress like a total slut for yourself, don't let guys decide what you!"

"While all this feminism is very empowering ladies I happen to think Addie looks very hot." Meredith's head snapped around, she saw Mark standing in the doorway. He was a full hour early. He leaned against the doorframe looking pretty hot himself in his SuperDry T-shirt and jeans. The thing that bothered Meredith was that he knew he was hot and he let that inflate his ego so that it was even bigger than Derek's.

"What are you doing here Mark?" Addison said, glaring at him. If looks could have killed, Mark Sloan would've been dead ten times over after being subjected to such an intense glare.

"Shepherd was doing his hair and I was ready and bored. I thought you might want a hand?" Arizona smiled at that, Meredith wasn't quite sure why.

"That's sweet of you Mark, there are plastic cups and thing in the kitchen along with the cans beer and cider that Owen dropped over. Could you set them out on the table? And lay off Derek, his hair is lovely even if it takes him longer than it takes me to do my hair." Mark gave the girls a parting smirk before heading downstairs.

Meredith decided that it was probably time to put her dress on. She didn't plan to do very much make up or spend much time on her so she wasn't very rushed. She had never been a high maintenance girl. Meredith stood up and announced she was getting changed, gathered her stuff and moved into the bathroom.

She put her dress on and looked at herself in the mirror. Here dress was very fitted and had cut outs on either side about two inches below her breasts. It was high necked and was a khaki colour. As Meredith was so petite and skinny it was very flattering. Meredith pulled her hair out of its pony tail and ran her hands through it. It fell in loose waves, framing her face beautifully. Meredith smiled, she loved the dress she had bought it on a shopping trip with Anne, Addison and Addison's mother. Addison had dragged her along, taking her phone hostage and threatening to text Derek, this had been before Meredith had cracked and agreed to be his friend.

Meredith sat down on the edge of the bath and put on her black high heels. They were five inches high, they were incredibly painful by the end of the night but worth it if you didn't want to look like a midget. They thankfully had a strap which made them a little easier to negotiate.

Meredith walked back into the room where Addison was wearing a navy backless dress with a full skirt that came to a few inches above her knee. She had teamed it with navy heels, a silver necklace and and silver bracelets. It was a lot more Addison than the earlier outfits and she looked a lot more comfortable in it.

All the girls complemented Meredith's dress when walked except Cristina who told her she'd do. Cristina herself hadn't actually changed yet and Meredith was wondering if she was going to attend the party in tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt. Then again, Owen had seen her like this before so she probably didn't care.

Meredith turned to the mirror and threw on some light foundation, quickly did her eye make up and put on some nude lipstick, before running her hand through her hair again. She wasn't happy. She adjusted her hair again but that wasn't the problem. Her outfit was missing something.

She dug through her bag and found a long silver chain with a silver owl on it. It had been a leaving gift from Sadie but she hadn't had a chance to wear it yet. She and Sadie had once taken a stupid online quiz and Meredith had turned out to be, for what ever reason, an owl. Sadie had been a snake. Since then Sadie had always bought something owl themed for Meredith's birthday present and vice versa. Meredith's personal favourite had been the year Sadie had printed out a picture of an owl and stuck it to a bottle of tequila.

The girls all admired her owl necklace except for Cristina, who had supposedly gone to get changed. Meredith sat back down on the bed and debated going downstairs to help Mark, they still had twenty-five minutes before anyone was set to arrive and most people would be 'fashionably late'. She asked Arizona if she needed anything else done and the enthusiastic blonde in the flouncy pink dress asked her to check that Mark hadn't broken anything yet.

Meredith walked carefully down the stairs, holding on to the rail. She was always unsteady on stairs in heels. Already, her feet felt a little sore, this did not bode well for the night. She admired a big family photo on the wall of Arizona, her parents and her older brother.

Meredith found Mark in the kitchen with Derek. She stood in the door way and watched them make idiots out of themselves dancing to Party Rock Anthem and attempting to shuffle. Meredith was silently doubled over in silent laughter. She hoped that her bladder would be strong enough to take this. Meredith let out a loud enough squeak, alerting the boys to her presence in the doorway. They both turned around as fast as they could. Their shocked expressions were priceless and made Meredith laugh harder. Derek was blushing profusely, while Mark was trying his damnedest to look cool and collected and was failing epically.

"Like what you see?" Mark asked, channeling his inner cocky asshole. Meredith snorted loudly at the question and clapped her hand over her mouth. Had she really just done that? She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks.

"Did you just snort?" Derek asked, quirking one of his eyebrows at her. Meredith took a deep breath, she felt like a deer in headlights.

"Maybe? I'm so sorry."

"Don't be it was cute," he said, "plus now were all even, we've all embarrassed ourselves." This didn't console the mortified Meredith who had only recently come to terms with the fact that she may have sort of liked Derek Shepherd. How could any guy be attracted to a girl who snorts?

"Let's never speak of this again," Mark said with finality.

Meredith took a deep breath and fought the urge that had been plaguing her since she made a fool out of herself, the urge to run. The urge to get away from this place as fast as she possibly could. "So have you boys considered a career as professional dancers?" she asked, sarcastically trying desperately to regain some of her dignity.

"We've been thinking about it, that's for sure haven't we Shep?"

At that moment, Owen arrived easing some of the tension in the room. He was quite dressed down wearing a plain white T-shirt, blue board shorts and flip flops. Derek was wearing a white t-shirt, with an unbuttoned green plaid shirt over it, jeans and Converse. So in comparison to Derek and Mark Owen was underdressed but he didn't seem to care much. He slung his backpack onto the counter top and greeted the three of them. Then he opened said backpack and unloaded a bottle of tequila, two bottles of vodka and a six pack of some beer Meredith hadn't seen before.

"The drink is on Arizona, so enjoy lads," he declared, before dragging Mark with him to the door where they would be acting as bouncers for the first hour of the party.

That just left Meredith and Derek in the room. "You look stunning," Derek said to her, smiling that smile that had obviously been designed by God for the sole purpose of getting women to fall at his feet. Meredith kept her face blank and tried to ignore the vicious butterflies in her tummy.

"Are you saying I don't look good all the time?" she said, purposely trying to throw him off so he be slightly less dazzling and she might be able to gain control of her senses. Derek looked flustered not knowing how to react.

"Um… no it's just that this is the first time I've seen you in a dress and stuff."

"And stuff? Seriously Derek? These are heels,"she said indicating her shoes, "this is a necklace." she felt so much comfortable on offence than on defence.

"Sorry. I know what they are, I have four sisters. I just put my foot in my mouth, I'm usually eloquent but you seem to be able to break the connection between my brain and my mouth. So sorry Meredith, you really do look beautiful."

"It's okay," she said, not knowing what to make of his words. She was shocked by his admission that he was affected just as strongly by her as she was by him. It made her feel more in control. "You clean up pretty well yourself."

"Thanks," he replied smirking, "that may be the first compliment you've ever given me."

"Well I probably should compliment your tenacity, you did win after all."

"Indeed I did!" Damn it, he was wearing his stupid, superior smirk again.

"I've just remembered why I don't usually compliment you, you have an ego the size of Texas!" Derek brought a hand to his chest and did his best impression of puppy dog eyes, which made Meredith giggle.

"I'd agree with you on that," Mark said grabbing a can.

"Aren't you supposed to be outside?" Meredith asked frowning. Mark just shrugged opening the can and taking a rather large mouthful.

"Life's no fun when you're sober Grey! Live a little." He turned on his heel, the can of Bulmers in his hand and headed back towards the front door.

"At least your egos not as big as Mark's."

"That's not really a compliment. Mark Sloan's ego is legendary. Someday soon it'll end up in the Guinness World Book of Records!" Meredith chuckled and Derek smiled that dazzling smile again. Meredith felt the butterflies in her tummy and a strange tingling feeling. She smiled back, mesmerised by the boy in front of her.

And for a moment it was as if all the air was gone from the room and Meredith leaned in and Derek did the same. Their lips touched and it was like an electric shock speed through Meredith, she could feel her heartbeat rising. Her arms rapped around his neck and his went to her waist. He slid his tongue into her mouth and their tongues danced, while Meredith's hand knotted themselves in his hair. Suddenly, Meredith's mind began to work again and she pulled away, detangling her hands from his hair.

"I cant do this." She turned on her heel and ran in the direction of the downstairs bathroom, not waiting to see his reaction.

When she reached the room she locked herself in. She had promised herself she wouldn't get tied down. She was to emotionally attached to Derek Shepherd already. She couldn't risk making out with him even if was just a one time thing because she didn't want to have reasons not to return to Boston in three years time.

Originally she had even sworn off friends, after all back home she'd only had one real friend. Friends, she realised now, were probably okay but anything more than that was dangerous territory. She would be friends with Derek Shepherd, he had after all won that war. However, she knew that they could never be anything more.

She stood up and inspected her reflection in the mirror. She was still slightly red and her lipstick need touching up. She took a few deep breaths and unlocked the door. She knew she was destined for a particularly awkward conversation with one Derek Shepherd later. First, however, she was going upstairs to fix her lipstick and to avoid said boy just a little bit longer.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

_AN: SO?_

_THOUGHTS ANYONE?_

_Please leave a review if you have the time. I read them all and they mean so much to me._

_Thanks for your time,_

_Katie XXX_


	9. Chapter 9

_AN: Dear readers,_

_Here is chapter 9. Thank you for your patience. Do not fear the plot moves on in this chapter, it isn't all fluff. It's also pretty long by standards._

_Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. You guys really do keep me going!_

_Just so you know strong language is used in this chapter. If you don't want to read it then don't._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, The Hangover, Ben and Jerry's or any other copyrighted material mentioned._

**Chapter 9 – Nothing Ever Goes as Planned**

By the time Meredith left the bathroom, the party was beginning to liven up. The girls, except Cristina, had come downstairs and about twenty of the guests had arrived. The music was pumping from Arizona's kitchen and people were beginning to make their way to the makeshift dance floor in the centre of the room, cans in hand.

Meredith decided that she should apply more lipstick before venturing into that room. She headed for the stairs as she passed the door she could she Addison making her move on a tall guy with dark hair. So the whoreing-out had apparently begun. She reached the stairs and climbed it, making a bee-line for the room, which she assumed was Arizona's, which she had gotten ready in earlier. She didn't pause to look at the pictures of Arizona and her family which lined the wall; she decided that she might do that later in order to procrastinate.

She walked to the door and turned the knob, pushing the door open. Cristina was there, throwing things out of her bag obviously looking for something. She stopped as she heard Meredith walk in. "You look like somebody killed your puppy, what the hell is wrong?" she asked, no emotion was present in her voice. Meredith noted that Cristina had changed into a short, tight black dress that showed plenty of skin. Meredith shrugged and went to her bag to grab her lipstick. Upon finding it she grabbed it and walked to the mirror.

"Look I'm not going to drag it out of you; if you want to talk I'll listen." It seemed kind of out of character for Cristina to be reaching an olive branch out to anyone. She seemed closed off and cold, hiding behind a thick wall of sarcasm.

Meredith felt a strange need to talk about her problems with the girl who sat behind her. She applied her lipstick carefully, slightly disgusted by how vain she was becoming. "Well," she said, before taking an enormous breath. "I may have kind of kissed Derek Shepherd."

"You and McDreamy huh? I can't say I'm surprised."

Meredith spun around, "Mc-what?" she asked frowning.

"McDreamy," Cristina repeated, standing up and stretching. She smoothed her dressed and walked out of the room.

Meredith's frown had not disappeared; everyone called Derek 'McDreamy'? She supposed it made sense. He was criminally beautiful and his smile did things to her that she couldn't even begin understand.

Cristina walked back into the room holding a pair of black wedges triumphantly. She sat down on the bed again. She grunted and then began to do up the straps around her feet. "So what's so bad about getting with McDreamy?"

"Well for starters, I wasn't looking for a boyfriend and he doesn't seem like the casual hook-up type. Secondly, he's a bit of an asshole. Thirdly, I just met him a little over a week ago. Fourthly, he's an arrogant asshole. Need I say anymore?"

"I'd have to agree with you McDreamy is the clingy type. If you like him, get with him casually and see how it goes. It doesn't really matter if he's not the casual relationship type. I'm not a relationship kind of girl either I've been meeting Owen," when she saw Meredith frown she corrected herself, "making out with Owen pretty exclusively for five months, we're not going out. Owen's the relationship type but he just has to deal with the fact I'm not."

"I don't know," Meredith sighed walking over and sitting next to Cristina. "What worries me is I think I like him. I think if I was just 'meeting him'," she said looking to Cristina for confirmation that she had used the correct slang. "I think that I'd want more, I don't need a relationship to tie me to this place."

"I'll ignore your sappy comments because I know where you're coming from. Look every one of us doesn't plan on sticking around in Graigue. Its home but we all want to go to college in Dublin, Cork or even the UK or the States. There isn't any work here except for a dead end job in the butchers or the supermarket."

"So what do you want to do in college?" Meredith asked Cristina, comforted by the news that maybe Derek wanted to get out of here too.

"Oh I'm doing medicine. I'm going to be a kick ass cardio surgeon someday!"

"Cool, my mother was a surgeon too, general though."

Cristina smiled, "I know how it feels to have lost a parent," she explained. "My dad died in a car crash when I was eight. I was in the car too, I tried to save him but I couldn't. I felt his heart stop beating and I knew he was gone. My mother thinks that's what made so emotionally fucked up." Meredith was caught a little off guard by Cristina opening up to her like this.

"I'm sorry," Meredith said, there was a hint of grief in her eyes. Her mask was slipping. Despite the fact that Ellis had been an absentee mother, she missed her. Meredith had never given up hope that one day Ellis might think that she was extraordinary. Now she never would.

"It was a long time ago but it still hurts. It gets better though."

Meredith fought back tears, "thanks," she choked out. "Shit I'm all emotional and stuff."

"Ugh, were like normal teenage girls, this unnerving. I hate this vulnerability, please tell me we don't have to hug and talk more about our feelings and shit."

Meredith chuckled, "ewwh no, we really don't have to do that. We've already done enough of the emotional stuff. Thanks though, it's nice to know someone else gets it."

"We better get down to the party then or Callie will kill us for upsetting Arizona. Callie can be like a mother protecting her cub if anyone so much as looks at Arizona funny. She is the only person who scares me."

"Let's go get insanely drunk then!" declared Meredith.

"I like the way you think!"

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

The music was playing loudly and everyone in the kitchen was dancing or making out with someone. Talking was pretty much out of the question as very little was audible over the pumping of the bass. Those who wanted to talk were either outside or in the living room. So far it had been a fairly controlled party; only one person had gotten sick on the floor. No one had gotten into fights and Arizona was playing the perfect hostess. Meredith however, not being a social butterfly, had been content to chill with the people she knew, even if one of those people was Derek Shepherd.

Derek had tried to speak to Meredith multiple times but Meredith honestly couldn't hear the majority of what he said over the loud music that was being played. He had tried to get her to go outside but Meredith had expertly dodged his attempts by claiming to love the song that was being played and dragging whoever was closest up to dance. She still hadn't worked out what to say to him and she was trying to procrastinate as long a physically possible.

All of a sudden Mark jumped up, can in hand, insisting the Meredith come and meet some of his friends who he had just spotted. Meredith acquiesced to Marks request and followed Mark over to a group of guys who had just entered the room. Mark tried to introduce them all but Meredith couldn't hear a thing over the sound of the music. They decided to head into the living room. It was still pretty loud in there but you could hear what people were saying if they shouted. Meredith learned that these guys played hurling with Mark. Hurling was an Irish game that involved a hurl, which was similar to a hockey stick, and a ball. Mark insisted that Meredith would have to see a match, apparently hurling was huge in this part of the country.

All the guys were really nice, and for the most part funny. Meredith sat down on the couch next to two of them. One was called Finn and the other Séan. They were both sweet and kind but Meredith didn't find them hugely attractive. She had a feeling that they could be good friends to have though. Séan was the joker and Finn was the intellectual. She was having quite an interesting conversation with them until she got a text from Cristina. '_Get your ass in here shits going down!_ '

Meredith apologised to the two boys telling them that she had to go and help her friend. She grabbed Mark, wincing as the pain from the high heels she was wearing returned to her feet. They both rushed into the kitchen where the music had been switched off.

In the centre of the room was Addison, who was shouting abuse at a blonde girl. Meredith recognised her, her name was Izzie; she was the girl that Alex had cheated on Addison with. "You stupid whore, how dare you show your face here. You weren't even invited before you got with my boyfriend."

"You're an absolute bitch Addison Montgomery; he's not your property or anything. You obviously just weren't giving him what he wanted and I was. Case closed."

"_I_ wasn't giving him what he wanted? You think that makes what the two of you did okay! Just because I wasn't putting out, you think that he should be allowed to cheat. Tell me you filthy whore, how long were you with Alex?"

"Three months." Addison made a move to try and hit Izzie and that's when Derek and Mark intervened. They caught Addison by each arm and tried to calm her down. Cristina jumped to action hurling slurs at Izzie; Owen kept a tight hold on Cristina to ensure she didn't try to seek revenge for what she had done to Addison. Meredith wasn't quite sure what to do; hurling insults at the blonde seemed an ostentatious inutility. Instead she walked calmly up to the blonde and whispered in her ear that she had better leave or she wouldn't be responsible for her actions. Izzie just asked Meredith who the hell she was and told her to get the hell out of her business. Meredith didn't quite know what to say.

At that point Alex burst in, apologising for Izzie's actions. Upon seeing him, Mark let go of Addison's arm and punched him square in the face, Alex cried out like a baby, swearing at Mark. His had clapped tightly over his nose, which was bleeding profusely. Meredith was pretty sure it was broken but in her opinion, Alex deserved whatever he got.

Addison was crying inconsolably into Derek's shoulder. She was an emotional drunk on a good day but this was all too much for her. Derek held her and tried his best to calm her down. Meredith was surprised that she felt slightly jealous of Addison in Derek's arms. She wondered what it felt like to be held by him.

Mark was busy threatening Alex who had finally stopped cursing at Mark. "If you ever hurt her again," Mark said, his expression heart, his tone of voice chilling. "I swear I will kill you, you motherfucking cunt! You don't know how lucky you were to have her or how many other guys would've killed to be in your position. If you so much as look at her funny Karev, I will break you. I promise." He continued on but whatever he said was too quiet for Meredith to hear. From the expression on Alex's face Meredith could tell whatever he was saying was pretty intimidating.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Getting Addison home had been a bit of a struggle. She had refused to walk so Derek had opted to carry her. Thankfully, Addison's mother was away for the weekend and Archer was out so they hadn't had to explain to any of Addison's relatives why she was so broken. They had spent five minutes trying to find Addison's keys; luckily it had been a warm summer's night. When they did finally find them Derek carried Addison in.

It was ten past twelve when they finally planted her on the couch, she curled up in a ball pressing her face to one of the plush red velvet cushions. Meredith sat beside her on the couch, she had no idea what to say, this was why she never got involved in relationships in the first place. She felt a little out of place, she didn't know why everyone was expecting her to be able to say the right thing to her cousin; she had only known her a little over a week. The others seemed to think the blood trumped a long standing friendship. Despite the fact all of the crew expect for Arizona was there (she had to clean up before her parents arrived home the next morning) the task seemed to fall to her.

"He didn't deserve you Addie," Meredith told her cousin laying a hand on her leg, thinking that the touch might offer some kind of comfort. "You deserve so much better than Alex Karev, he honestly isn't even worth your tears."

Addison lifted her head from the cushion and smiled sadly at Mer. She sat up and hugged her cousin. "Thanks Mer," she sniffed, "I needed that. What I don't get is why the pain is only hitting now. I found out he had cheated on me on Thursday, I guess I just thought it was a onetime thing." She had resumed crying after that. She had tried to apologise for her emotional outburst multiple times but what she choked out was almost unintelligible.

Every one of them tried to offer her some comfort but Addison was beyond comforting. She just wanted to wallow in pity. So all of them just sat on the various chairs around her sitting room and focused their efforts on trying to make her laugh. Cristina offered multiple times to beat Izzie to a pulp but Addie didn't want that, at the end of the day mist of the blame fell on Alex. Izzie didn't have any loyalties to Addison; they had only ever been acquaintances despite being in the same class in school.

It took a while and Mark sharing some embarrassing childhood stories and offering to break Alex's nose again when it healed but Addison had finally stopped crying. She sat on the couch looking empty, her expression had been chilling. She had looked so small and broken, like a child rather than a fifteen year-old girl.

The girls had made the guys leave; they didn't need to see Addison like this. Mark had been particularly hard to kick out; he had insisted that he wanted to be there for. Meredith was beginning to see that Mark was incredibly devoted to her cousin, she was fairly sure that he might even be in love with Addison.

Despite the fact that they were all really tired they put _The Hangover_ on to tried and cheer her up. They even attempted to force feed her _Ben and Jerry's_ cookie dough ice cream. Addison just wanted to sleep and escape from it all. She didn't want to talk she just needed time to take it all in and decide exactly how she felt about everything. When she told the girls this they all agreed that sleep would do them all good.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

Meredith groaned. Her head was pounding and her stomach was churning violently._ Where the hell was she?_ She attempted to open her eyes but the bright light only intensified the painful thumping in her head. To an extent, she now regretted how much she'd had to drink the night before; it had been more than a bit excessive. Thankfully, her memory hadn't been too badly affected by the tequila and while it was a bit fussy in places, she had a pretty clear recollection of what had gone down the night before.

She rolled over onto her tummy, running through what had happened last night, making sure that she hadn't done anything particularly stupid. She was pretty sure that other than kissing Derek Shepherd and dancing on Arizona's kitchen table that she hadn't done anything too damaging.

She opened her eyes again, the light hurt but she really needed to use the bathroom. Meredith was surprised for a moment that she was on the floor in Addison's bedroom. Callie was beside her still fast asleep but no one else was in the room. Meredith grunted as she managed to force herself into a standing position.

Meredith wanted nothing more than to lie back down as her head was spinning faster than a merry-go-round and the pounding inside her head was even more intense. All of a sudden she felt herself retch. She ran to the ensuite bathroom as fast as she could, knowing that the contents of her stomach were about to make a reappearance.

She made it just in time. There was a strange feeling of relief after it was all done. Meredith knew it probably wouldn't last. She cleaned herself up and shuffled back into Addison's bedroom, where she grabbed a piece of chewing gum from her bag to try and cover up the smell of sick. She stumbled over Callie to the door, slightly surprised at just how heavily the girl slept. Meredith stumbled down the stairs to try and find Addison, some pain killers and water.

Addison was sitting in the kitchen at the counter. She looked an absolute state; her mascara had ran, obviously from crying at the events of last night. As a result she had panda eyes; her pyjamas were old and ratty. And as for her face looked as if she was in actual pain. Cristina sat beside her, her she didn't look much better. They both looked up as the door creaked. However, neither of them bothered to greet Meredith.

Meredith walked over to Addison. "Please tell me you have some pain killers?" She asked desperately. She winced when Addison's reply was too loud. Hangovers were the worst!

Meredith was grateful when Addison presented her with two tablets and a glass of water. She took the tablets quickly and washed them down with water before mumbling her thanks to Addison. She sat down on the stool next to Cristina and buried her head in her hands, thanking the universe that Addison's mother had been out last night and she hadn't had to go home completely intoxicated. That would not have been at all fair to her grandparents, she was sure that they had not anticipated such unruly behaviour from the child they had taken in.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

It was half past three by the time everyone was showered and dressed. Everyone left an hour later except for Meredith who wanted to ensure that Addison was alright. Mark and Derek were there too. Mark had arrived at ten past twelve and had refused to leave. Derek had arrived shortly afterwards.

They all spent the evening in Addison's living room watching scary movies that had nothing at all to do with romantic relationships. Addison appreciated the support they were all showing her, she also appreciated how they weren't forcing her to talk about her feelings. She hated, though, how they were all walking on eggshells around her, they weren't being themselves.

After the second scary movie had finished, Meredith headed into the kitchen to replenish the snacks. Derek followed her. She opened four cupboards before she found a packet of _Kit Kats _and another two before she found the tortilla chips. Meredith knew Derek was behind her but she had decided to ignore him. She moved to the refrigerator to get the coke.

"I know you're ignoring me Meredith." Meredith didn't bother looking around. She poured the tortilla chips into the bowl. "We need to talk, whether you like it or not."

"Now is hardly the time or the place," she fired back, crumpling up the empty packet and throwing it in the bin.

"Yeah, but we do need to talk Meredith. There's no point putting it off."

"We will talk," she said turning around to face him. "But not now."

"Then when?" Derek asked taking a step closer to her, before running a hand through his hair. Meredith shrugged and ducked her head. He crossed the room, he was now standing so close to her that she could feel his breath on her face. She breathed in the smell of his cologne, which smelled intoxicating. She looked up, his expression was serious. "Please Mer?" His voice was soft and silky and Meredith could feel her stomach do somersaults.

"We can talk tomorrow but right now Addie should be our priority."

"Thank you. I'll take you for coffee in town about two tomorrow, okay?" Although Meredith was concerned that 'coffee' was code for a date she agreed. He was right; they really did need to talk.

"So two?" she asked.

"Yeah two," he confirmed, ducking his head and planting a soft kiss on her cheek. She smiled at him, hearing her heart pound erratically in her chest.

"This is not a date," she spat out awkwardly. "This is just a talk. I'm not going out with you except that I am, to talk, but just to talk. And I just want to be clear that this is by no means a date because well it's-"

Derek cut her off by planting a kiss on her lips. Meredith broke the kiss and stumbled awkwardly back into the counter. "Sorry," Derek told her, "I find your rambling very cute but I didn't know how to stop you so I did what I had to. Damn it, I'm rambling now!

"Tomorrow will be just coffee as friends Mer. I want to get to know you better and for you to get to know me better. Then we can talk and see where we both stand okay?" He smiled his dazzling smile and she was putty in his capable hands. She had a feeling that he didn't know just how powerful a weapon his smile was.

"Okay," Meredith stammered still slightly unsure. She was slightly confused by the fact that she almost wished that it was a date.

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

In the next room, Mark and Addison sat together on Addison's long, L-shaped, brown leather couch. There was only a couple of inches of space in between the two of them. There was silence between them but the silence was a comfortable one. Addison shifted closer to Mark and laid her head on his shoulder. She looked up into his eyes and smiled sadly at him. "I want to thank you for yesterday," she told him. "Thanks for standing up for me and punching Alex. It was really sweet of you Mark."

Mark smiled back at her and slung his arm around her. "It was no problem Addison. Karev was an asshole he deserved his broken nose ten times over."

"Did you mean what you said yesterday? When you said I deserved better?" She asked quietly, her gaze shifting uncomfortably to the floor.

Mark put his finger under her chin and forced her to lift her head. "Of course I meant it Addie. You deserve a freakin' prince who'll treat you right."

"Thanks Markie." She buried her head in his shoulder. Addison needed to be told that.

"Any time Addie, I'll always be here. I promise."

_**MIDDLE OF NOWHERE**_

_So, my pretties, we've reached the end of chapter nine!_

_A penny for your thoughts?_

_Thanks for your time,_

_Katie._

_**Fun Fact: Graiguenamanagh has 17 pubs (bars) I've counted! One of them sells cereal, fishing tackle, window putty, lemons, a sweeping brush and rat poison and more unusual stuff as well as alcohol; it's a pretty unique place.**_


End file.
